How long does friendship last?
by nefieslab
Summary: After an alien race tries to abduct the villains of Jump, Robin is presumed dead and only Raven tried to help him save the villains. But Robin isn't dead. Saved by Red X, Robin wants some real change in Jump, by being an Outsider. RobxRav pairing
1. FS: The Shadow of the Day

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note: All characters are likely to be OOC but try and keep in mind that death and rejection tend to do that to people.**

The Shadow of the Day

Robin opened his eyes, his throat already soar from his scream, the same one that had woken him. He stopped the scream quickly and looked around himself in disarray. The dark surroundings were a very welcome sight. His head slumped back against the medical bed he was currently lying on. A light chuckle escaped him, his ribs protesting only slightly at the movement. It was nice to see that at least one person he knew wasn't going to forget about him. With a sad smile he sat back up in the bed, not surprised in the least to find himself face-to-face with a concerned looking Bruce Wayne, a towel wrapped around his shoulders and a bath robe covering his scarred body. Robin laughed a little more, his ribs screaming at him in protest,

"Cover up some more Bruce! I'm not Selina you know…" he joked lightly, running a hand over his own torso, wincing as his fingers brushed against his left ribs. Bruce didn't smile at the joke, if anything his concerned frown deepened,

"Robin." He said firmly, gaining the total attention of his ward. Robin looked up at his mentor with a small frown,

"Yeah?" he asked, rather casually. Bruce shook his head,

"We need to talk about what happened Robin." He replied, in the same, firm, voice as before. Robin felt his mood change instantly from carefree to angry. He closed his eyes, his teeth gritted, as he fully remembered the events preceding his awakening in the Batcave.

The explosion, screaming himself hoarse for his friends, the fire and the never-ending fall.

Robin scowled as he remembered the screaming. He'd let his pride go in order to ask for their help and they'd ignored him, choosing instead to cower behind Raven's shield while he alone faced their enemy, while he alone took the pain, while he alone fought so that they could…!

With an effort Robin stopped that train of thought. It would only cause him even more anger and pain. He looked back up at Bruce, his face a hard mask of barely contained anger,

"What happened?" he asked quietly. Bruce's frowned deepened once again,

"What always happens, eventually, when you're in a team." He sighed, "Someone dropped the ball and someone else took the fall."

Robin couldn't stop the growl that built up from deep within his chest,

"But this wasn't someone, Bruce… ALL of them stood by and watched me do it! They didn't even try to catch me when I took that fall for them!" he cried out in despair and anger. With this outburst, however, his anger seemed to leave him. Leave him with only the sadness and overwhelming darkness. Bruce placed a comforting hand on his shoulder,

"You succeeded though Robin." He announced confidently. Robin relaxed slightly,

"The alien ship?" he asked, all business now with his emotions locked away for the time being. Bruce noticed his son's tone become more and more detached and continued in the same way. This was how the two great detectives cut out their controlling and clouding emotions,

"Completely destroyed." He reported briskly. Robin nodded curtly,

"And the city?" he asked as he slowly pulled himself off the bed and onto his feet. Bruce took his hand away from his shoulder,

"Safe. The debris from the ship was destroyed by…" he paused in his report, giving Robin an even look. Robin swallowed hard, he had a feeling what was coming next. He nodded at Bruce, his face set. Bruce nodded in response, "The Teen Titans."

Robin closed his eyes tight before covering them with his hand. His friends had chosen to protect the city from property damage rather than catch him as he fell from the sky. The anger threatened to return but he quickly clamped down on it, returning to his emotionless detective face. He took his hand away and looked over at his mentor, the picture of calm,

"Any additional information you believe is relevant?" he asked in the same detached voice as before. The older man nodded once,

"One Titan had to be restrained after the explosion. My guess is that she had to be restrained to keep her from going after you." He reasoned smoothly. Robin shook his head,

"Starfire." He deduced quickly, his anger returning in spades. Starfire would try and save anyone, regardless of her relationship with them. He could have been a stranger and she would have still thrown herself after him. And Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven would have all stopped her with only a few words. He gritted his teeth again. Was that all that it took for his friendship to be forgotten? A few words?

"No, the dark haired one." Bruce corrected, breaking his son's focus. Robin's anger was replaced by confusion almost instantly,

"Raven tried to go after me?" he asked quietly. Seeing the change in his son, Bruce nodded slowly,

"Yes, this 'Raven' person appeared to be quite distraught. I believe she even managed to dismantled most of the cyborg's arm with just her hands when he held her back from you." He chuckled lightly, "You seem to have had a dark admirer Dick."

Robin smiled slightly at the nickname and the new information,

"Well at least one person from that city still wanted to help me." He mused sadly before returning his attention to his damaged ribs. A small cough caught his attention. He froze instantly. The cough was distorted, as if it had been passed through a robotic filter before reaching him. Suddenly thankful that the bottom half of his uniform was still in place, Robin leapt forwards, spinning round in the air as he pulled a birdarang from his utility belt. He growled as Red X slowly walked up to the medical bed, his arms folded across his chest. The thief held his hands out slowly, palms turned away from Robin to prevent a misunderstanding occurring because of his palm-mounted X'es,

"I'm not here to fight you Robin. I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of saving you to try and beat you down." He explained, the usual taunting edge to his voice absent on this occasion. Robin cautiously lowered his weapon,

"You saved me?" he asked, his eyes darting to Bruce for confirmation. The older man nodded,

"He saved you Robin. After he did I picked the two of you up and brought you here." he explained patiently. Robin thought about it for a moment before replacing his birdarang and fixing X with a cold stare,

"And what do you want in return? You don't do things for free." He noted dryly. X chuckled a little,

"Not normally no." he straightened up, a movement that told Robin that his demeanour had changed to more serious, "But you've already done me two favours."

Robin frowned before he remembered the human cargo that the ship had been trying to escape with,

"You were one of the people on the ship." He concluded quickly. X nodded,

"I was indeed. But saving my life is something that is easily repaid, just like during the race." He shifted from one foot to the other, nervous if Robin had to guess, "But you also did something for me that I could never repay… you paid for my mother's operation."

Robin blinked before he lightly touched his face. No mask. Red X, one of his rivals if not an enemy, knew his secret identity. The thief seemed to read his mind however and shook his head,

"I'm not going to tell anyone Robin." He assured the hero. Robin frowned,

"How can I be sure you're telling the truth?" he pressed firmly. Red X reached up and removed his skull mask. Robin blinked as the pale skinned face was revealed. X's face was firmly set, with a strong jaw and high cheek bones. His eyes were a dull green colour that seemed to fit in with the light brown bangs of hair that hung over them. Robin looked squarely at him for a moment, trying to look past the honesty that seemed to be etched into the face and eyes. X held out a hand,

"Because even bad guys love their mothers." He replied with a small smile. Robin smirked suddenly and took the hand,

"You were never all bad X." he replied as they began the handshake. X grinned back,

"It's Jack. Jack Masters." He introduced himself warmly. Robin chuckled,

"Richard. Richard Grayson. It's a pleasure to meet you Jack."

The remaining Teen Titans were sat around the circular table in the Operations Room, all of them deathly quiet as they sat as far from each other as possible. Each of them looked different from their normal selves.

Beast Boy had not cracked a joke all day and he seemed to have developed deep, black, rings under his eyes that told of heavy sleep loss despite only one day having passed since the death of the Titans' leader. His green skin was paler than usual and his energetic personality seemed to have been totally replaced by the cup of coffee that he now held in his shaking hands.

Cyborg was completely unmoving, as if imitating a very distracted statue. His robotic parts were a very pale blue colour, indicating that he had gone without a power recharge since the battle and the loss of his friend.

Starfire's eyes were red and puffy, a clear sign that the absence of Robin had been met with tears from the alien princess. Her fiery hair was tussled and in total disarray, a state that was mirrored exactly by her clothes.

Raven was a different story entirely.

Where as the other Titans were a picture of sadness, Raven was looking dangerously angry. While she still had only two eyes, Raven could feel Hatred inside her, growing larger and larger within Nevermore. Unlike other cases of this occurrence, where all of Raven's other emotions would be holding Hatred back, only Intelligence stood against the monster. And her only argument was to let the other Titans try and explain their deplorable actions so that their deaths could be made even more painful. What was even more strange was that a single emotion, a Raven wearing a light red cloak, was being restrained by both Intelligence AND Hatred. She was showing enough anger to make even Hatred afraid of her. And her constant call of 'Burn them for what they did to him! Burn them!' was looking more and more attractive to Raven as the silence dragged on. Finally, she could take no more of the silence,

"You people sicken me!" she screamed, standing up so suddenly that he chair flew away from her. The other Titans didn't seem shocked, almost as if they had expected the outburst. Raven growled dangerously and some of the spare chairs were violently ripped apart by black energy, "You let him die! You made him go into the cargo bay on his own! You stopped me from going after him! You… you…!"

With the anger of her light red self spent, Raven fell to her knees, her head in her hands as she sobbed quietly. Cyborg stood up slowly,

"We know Raven. But I was not about to let the rest of the team die with him to save a few villains." He announced coldly. Raven's head flicked up to turn her four eyed glare at the metal man,

"You don't make the decisions Tinman! This is Robin's team!" she declared venomously. Cyborg shook his head,

"Not anymore it isn't, dead men make poor leaders." He replied, his voice becoming more and more robotic as he did so. Raven's powers began to claw at the walls of the room until Beast Boy stood up from his chair quietly. He took one look at Raven before slowly walking over to Cyborg's side of the table,

"I'm with Cyborg. I'm sorry Raven but I'd rather save the entire city than one friend and a ship full of enemies." He muttered darkly. Raven shook her head in disbelief, her eyes returning to normal,

"I don't believe this… you're saying that you'd abandon Robin again if you could do this again?" she demanded, her shock keeping Hatred from changing her completely into a demon. Starfire slowly edged her way over to Cyborg,

"I too am sad at the death of Friend Robin… but I made a promise to protect the city, as is Titan duty." She managed to whisper hoarsely. Raven stood up slowly, pulling her hood up as a way of accepting her defeat,

"Fine. I'm going to my room." She declared in a forced monotone. Beast Boy took a step forwards,

"Look… Raven-" he stopped when the door threw itself across the room and smashed into the wall, a few inches from his head. Raven began to glow with her powers,

"If you come into my room you will die. There is no exception to that rule now. And I will begin to enforce it." she promised before vanishing through a shadow. Cyborg rubbed his human eye absently,

"To the new business… we need to get our good reputation back. Believe it or not, the city is angry that we didn't try harder to save the villains." He commented in a robotic monotone before sitting back down. Starfire tilted her head to the side slightly,

"But does the city not congratulate us when we kick the butt of the villains?" she questioned, totally clueless as usual. Beast Boy shook his head and sat down as well, grabbing hold of his coffee once again,

"Even bad guys have mothers Star, and mother love you no matter what." He explained before taking a gulp of coffee. Cyborg nodded briskly,

"Exactly. We'll need to do a hell of a lot of PR to get us back into good books…" he muttered to himself. Starfire frowned,

"What has our popularity have to do with those letters?" she asked innocently. Beast Boy growled lightly in frustration,

"He means that we have to kiss ass in order to go back to kicking ass." He replied darkly. Cyborg nodded,

"I've already arranged the first PR stunt we're going to pull." He pulled out a pristine white letter, with black print writing all across it. He sighed, "We're paying for Robin to have a symbolic funeral. A big one."

Beast Boy frowned,

"Surely that will cost a lot of money." He pointed out before going back to his coffee. Cyborg scoffed,

"It was his money to begin with." He countered. Beast Boy waved his hand for Cyborg to continue, "And he also left a will to be read out in the event that he died without his body being found. We will have to read it after the funeral. After a few weeks, long enough for the city to mourn, we will sponsor a ball. It will serve as Robin's wake."

Beast Boy nodded once before going back to his coffee. Starfire quietly nodded as well. Cyborg looked at the broken doorway, there was no point in asking Raven's opinion on this matter. He nodded as well,

"Alright then, these actions have become part of being as Titan as of now, passed by a majority."


	2. FS: Funeral for a Friend

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note: You guessed it guys. Jack and Richard are going to be heroes, but in a different way to the Titans. Here is the first stage in the Teen Titans Public Relations events. **

Funeral for a Friend

The rain hammered down from the dark sky, the thunder cracking dangerously. Clouds swirled against the powerful winds that pressed against them. With the rain almost ice cold, the thunder and lightening blaring it seemed to Raven that the sky was angry with those bellow it. She shook her head and continued to stand in the rain, totally still, as she waited for the coffin to be brought up the street. After a few moments more she caught sight of the coffin and she couldn't help but scowl when she saw the people carrying the ornate, black, casket.

Cyborg, Beast Boy, Speedy and Aqualad were carrying the empty casket between them, their heads bowed low in a sign of regret and respect to their fallen comrade. Even in her own mind, Raven refused to acknowledge any of the other Titans as friends of Robin. They were the ones that had told her to abandon her searching after the remaining debris had crashed to the ground and the ones who had held her back when she had tried to save him from the fall itself.

Raven finally took a step back from the open grave when the four Titans approached with the symbolic casket of their leader. She looked to her right slightly and saw Starfire crying into her dress gloves. No one had had the heart to tell Starfire that a bright pink dress was not acceptable at a funeral. Raven shook her head and looked down at her own dress, a simple black number that trailed behind her feet due to it's length. With a sigh she looked down the line at the other mourners.

All of the honorary Titans had decided to pay their respects to their fallen leader and many of the Justice League had decided that they should mourn for the loss of the Dark Knight's 'son'. The elite of Jump city were there as well, allowing Raven to contrast the two types of mourners by their bright uniforms and pristine black suits and dresses. She shook her head in disgust, none of these people really knew Robin, and they were all here because Cyborg's PR pitch was working just as expected.

It was strange but as the casket was slowly lowered into the grave, something else caught her eye. Black, spiked up, hair.

She turned to look at the young man whose hair she had spotted. He was quite tall, his black hair was gelled in exactly the same way as Robin's used to be, and his skin was slightly tanned in the same way that her leader's skin had been. His eyes seemed to be blue enough to glow across the distance between them. Her heart had begun to beat faster when she realised what the young man was wearing. He was wearing one of the pristine suits that she had noticed on the elites, but his was bright white.

'_White at a funeral?_' Hatred screamed in her mind. Raven was inclined to side with her demonic side on this matter but something about his demeanour stopped her from blasting him into oblivion. His back was totally straight, all of his visible muscles were tensed, and he was staring at the casket with such intensity that it made her take a step back. Another teen, also wearing a white suit, placed a hand on the first one's shoulder and drew Raven's attention. This one had medium length brown hair that fell over his eyes but other than that he was remarkably similar to the first teen. They were exactly the same height and, from what she could she from the suits, they were both in good shape. The brown haired teen spoke into his friend's ear and Raven noticed the black hair teen relax visibly before catching her gaze.

Raven tensed at being caught staring, glaring at times, by the teenage boy. However, he merely smiled slightly and inclined his head slightly at her before turning back to the proceedings before them. Raven didn't look away however; she looked at the brown haired teen and frowned lightly. He was talking quietly with a frail looking woman who was attached to an oxygen tank and had a medical orderly holding her gently upright. He seemed to be happy talking to the woman in a way that Raven was only able to describe simply. _'The woman would be his mother'_, Intelligence deduced with a smug nod in Nevermore.

So wrapped up in her observations, Raven was surprised when people started to walk past her, towards the Jump City Ballroom across the room from the cemetery. She glanced over at the filled in grave before following the crowd towards the ballroom for the will-reading. An empty grave held nothing for Raven.

**Page Break**

Richard sighed as he took another sip from the white wine in his hand, standing with his back against the wall as he watched the mourners wander around the ballroom, exchanging sad and happy stories about the life he'd led as Robin. He shook his head in disgust before draining the rest of his glass. With a scowl now set on his features, he set the glass down on a nearby table before making his way through the crowd to find the waiter that was serving the wine.

As he was pushing past yet another fat man in a black suit, he felt a hand grab hold of his sleeve. It took all of his undercover training to fight against the instinct to throw the person over his shoulder using their own hold on his sleeve. He swallowed hard before turning round to face whoever it was, his scowl now replaced with an indifferent expression that he had perfected long ago. He blinked in surprise when he saw an annoyed looking Raven holding onto his arm. His expression softened slightly at the sight of her,

"And how may I help you Miss?" he asked politely, his voice now assuming the refined air that Alfred had taught him was expected from the upper class. Raven frowned a little but let go of his sleeve,

"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." She muttered, more for her benefit that for his own. Richard smiled lightly and held out his hand,

"Happens all the time I can assure you. My name is Richard Grayson, and who may I ask are you my lady?" he asked with just a little bit of the refined charm that Bruce had insisted he developed. Raven went to shake his hand,

"You know who I am." She replied quietly. Richard took hold of her hand lightly before turning it over with his fingers. Her mouth opened to speak, most likely to ask what he was doing, but Richard simply locked eyes with her before lightly kissing the back of her hand,

Many know the bird like I, but few know the name by which it flies." he replied smoothly, let go of her hand gracefully. Raven seemed flustered for a moment before she shook her head lightly,

"I am a superhero, I can't tell you my real name." she announced in a small voice. Richard smiled warmly at her while his mind began to work faster. She was responding just like every other woman had when he began his 'charming noble' act. Somehow it touched him more because it was Raven that he was talking to. Suddenly he felt dirty, as if he was taking advantage of Raven. He looked around quickly before fixing her with a more genuine smile,

"To tell you the truth… I'm really not into all this passive lying." He told her, reverting back to his normal voice. Raven's eyes widened,

"You… you sound just like him…" she whispered softly. Richard's smile fell slightly, while in his mind a part of himself congratulated him for his excellent acting,

"I… I'm an old friend." He managed to say, ignoring the nagging part of himself that wanted to hug Raven and tell her the whole truth. Raven raised an elegant eyebrow,

"I've never seen you before… how did you know him?" she questioned, almost harshly. Richard smiled easily,

"You've seen me before." He replied and continued when he saw her confused and irritated face, "I was part of Haley's circus."

Raven immediately took a step back,

"How did you know I saw that?" she questioned quickly. On the outside Richard was unfazed by the question but on the inside he was swearing wildly at his own stupidity for mentioning something that only Robin would know about. He quickly recovered with a sad look,

"Robin told me about it. He told me a lot of things about his life as a Teen Titan." He lied quickly, very aware of how the guests seemed to be migrating to the seats set up for the will-reading. He held out his arm for her to loop her own round, "We should get to the will-reading. You would do me a great service by accompanying me my lady, it's not everyday that anyone like me can be in company of someone as radiant as yourself."

Raven flushed slightly before looping her arm around his. Richard smiled a little and led her over to a pair of seats at the back of the smaller room, as far away from the other Titans and heroes as possible.

**Page Break**

"I shall now read parts of the Will that Robin has highlighted to be read out to those assembled." The lawyer coughed slightly before continuing,

_I, Robin, being of sound body and mind do hereby divide my estate thusly. _

_To my friend and mentor, Batman, I leave my treasured motorcycle in the hope that the Robins to come ignore your warnings about speed as I did before them. I also leave this message, You were my father._

_To the Gotham City museum of the Criminally insane I entrust my personal collection; my paintings of the criminally insane villains of Gotham City._

_To my friends Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy I leave Titan Tower._

_To Cyborg I give my experimental power core, in the hopes that he will long outlast his precious car._

_To Starfire I leave my mother's wedding ring. Wear it with pride Starfire._

_To Beast Boy I leave the necklace charm of another fallen hero, Vixen. May the spirits within guide you._

_To Raven I leave my diary, my Titans communicator and a letter that you are to open only when the communicator signals once. I would also like it to be known that I do not leave you willingly Raven._

_To my younger brother, Tim Drake, I leave my utility belt, my crime files and this piece of advice. "The road of the robin is hard Tim, but you're spirit flies much easier than mine ever did."_

_And lastly, to my friend Richard Grayson, I leave the remainder of my estate. All the money, from all of my accounts, will be wired to him upon the reading of this will and all of my remaining possessions are to be given to him at his earliest convenience. _

_I fought for the good of the people and I hope you will take on my dream and challenge._

**Page Break**

All eyes were fixed on Richard as he calmly stood up from his seat in the back of the room and made his way over to the lawyer that had read the will. He glanced around as he walked past, noticing the angry looks from most of the Titans and the shock that Raven displayed. He pointedly ignored them and approached the lawyer and the laptop he had set up. Pulling a slip of paper from his pocket he stopped in front of the elderly man. The lawyer took the paper and tapped the number into the laptop before nodding at him,

"The wire transfer is completed Mr Grayson." He informed him respectfully before handing him a single key. Richard took the key and turned back to the assembled guests, all of them still staring at him with open hostility. He nodded and Jack walked over to him from his place in the chairs, his own white suit attracting glares from the other guests. Richard threw the key at him and Jack caught it lazily,

"Where's your mother?" he asked Jack as the other guests began to either leave or take the possessions entrusted to them. Jack put the key in his pocket,

"She got tired so I had the orderly take her back home." He replied as the two of them began to lazily walk away. Richard frowned,

"Is she alright?" he asked, concerned for his friend's mother. Jack smiled a little,

"She's fine Richard. The operation was a complete success and she'll live a long life yet." He replied. Richard patted Jack on the shoulder,

"If there is anything she needs then you just tell me and she'll have it." he told his friend firmly. Jack shook his head,

"I will Rich but with our new job I think I could stand to pay for the bills myself." He replied with a chuckle. Richard nodded,

"Speaking of which, we still need to pick the other members of the team." He reminded his friend as they began to walk out into the rain. Jack nodded,

"I've got a lead on Argent and Jinx handed herself in when she found out y-Robin had died to save her." He replied, looking around them when he almost slipped on the story. Richard nodded,

"Good. We'll be able to make a real difference for the people of Jump City." He looked over his shoulder and saw Raven clambering into the back of the waiting T-Car, "Even if we have to be Outsiders to do it."


	3. FS: Many of Horror

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note: Yeah, I know it's short but I promised both Adriadna22 and Main Source of Annoyance that I would update soon. The same day seemed like soon enough to me. I've tried to actually make a page break in this one but it still might not work, like it hasn't the other two times. Enjoy.**

Many of Horror

Raven's numb fingers let Robin's diary fall to the floor, tears streaming down her face as she fled to Nevermore.

Intelligence looked up from the chessboard, ignoring the fact that Courage was currently trying to cheat while she wasn't looking, and frowned at the crying Raven in front of her. Her frown disappeared in shock when the Real Raven buried her head in the yellow cloaked shoulder of Intelligence before resuming her sobbing. The rational emotion looked around at her fellow emotions in utter panic. This kind of behaviour was totally beyond her!

Hatred growled as she walked over to the group, noticing the Real Raven crying her eyes out. Immediately she grabbed Courage by her collar and lifted her up into the air,

"What have you said to her?" she demanded in her booming, demonic voice. Courage shook her head, scowling down at the intimidating emotion,

"I didn't say anything. She just appeared and went to go cry on Intell's shoulder!" she defended herself, breaking Hatred's grip on her collar. The red emotion growled again before walking over to Intelligence and Raven,

"What's going on here? Who dares cause us this amount of emotional distress?" she demanded, her four eyes glowing dangerously. Intelligence looked up from Raven,

"She was reading the diary that Robin left her and then she just came in here, crying like this." She gestured down at Raven, who was still sobbing into her cloak uncontrollably. Hatred frowned,

"What did she find in that accursed book? What makes my host cry?" she demanded, her fury causing a dangerous aura to surround her. Intelligence shrugged and simply wrapped her arms around Raven in a comforting hug. Hatred was about to explode in her own rage when she noticed that one of the emotions was acting just like Raven. Her eyes narrowed and she marched over to Love, "What the hell are you doing to Raven?"

Love pulled her head out of her hands, still crying as she did so,

"In Robin's diary…" she stopped to sob, "He said… he said he loved us!"

As Love returned to her previous state, Hatred frowned before turning round to look at Intelligence,

"He loved us? Us or just Raven?" she asked, confused that she suddenly cared what Robin had thought of her. Intelligence sighed,

"Robin listed how, and why, he loved Raven when she was experiencing any of her emotions. Apparently…" her face flushed, "He thought that I was cute when I was with Raven."

Hatred scoffed,

"One emotion he can live with. That doesn't mean that he loves us all." She announced loudly, although silently sad that Robin didn't love her with Raven. Love sniffed a little as she finally began to pull herself out of her crying session,

"He said we were prettier than… than the sun when we blushed…" she confessed timidly. Timid herself shrunk into herself,

"He… he said it was… adorable when we were shy…" she whispered, much to herself than to any of the other emotions. Hatred began to seethe in anger again, had he forgotten about her? Love smiled up at Hatred, her eyes puffy from her tears,

"He even loved you Hatred." She said quietly. The red emotion froze. Love giggled a little, "He said he loved the passion that you represented inside of Raven."

Hatred sat herself down next to Raven and pulled her into a hug, just as Intelligence had done. A few tears slid down from her four eyes, for the first time they were not the frustrated tears of anger but the pure tears of loss.

**Page Break**

Richard frowned as he looked up at the dark energy swirling around the top floor of Titan Tower, the windows breaking and sending huge waves of glass shards towards the rocks bellow. A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, breaking his train of thought,

"That your handy work?" Jack asked as he stood next to his friend, gazing up at the Tower with curiosity. Richard nodded absently,

"I didn't think she'd have reached the last page already…" he muttered to himself, pulling his black overcoat tighter against his body. Jack chuckled,

"She has her head in a book for most of her days and you think that she wouldn't have finished your little diary by this time?" he shook his head with a smile before turning away from the Tower and back to the nightclub they had come to visit. Richard sighed once before turning round as well, taking in the large exterior of the nightclub. It was kind of dull in his opinion, the bricks had been painted black and grey but otherwise it looked like a warehouse. He shrugged as he saw the huge line of Goths waiting to get past the club's bouncer. Jack chuckled again before walking straight towards the door. He was stopped almost immediately by the huge bouncer,

"Hey, you wait in line like everyone else boy…" he looked down at Jack's simple, black, overcoat and sneered, "And this club is for a different type of person to you."

Richard rolled his eyes and threw his overcoat into the first few girls in the line. He wasn't wearing a shirt, that alone was enough to make most girls swoon, and the expertly drawn tattoos running across his muscled torso were enough to make even the most stoic of the Goth girls swoon. His regular jeans had been replaced by tight, black obviously, leather trousers that left very little to the imagination. He pointed to a tattoo of a coiled dragon that rested neatly on his abs,

"I'm the right kind of person." He told the bouncer firmly. The big man nodded and looked at Jack. Jack sighed,

"But it's February! It's fucking cold man!" he moaned before discarding his own overcoat in the same manner as Richard. He was dressed, and painted, exactly the same as Richard. However, a red X was painted on the left side of his neck. The bouncer nodded,

"Fine. You're Goth enough. But you still have to get in line." He told them in a booming voice that made it clear that argument was not a possibility. Jack raised an eyebrow at Richard. Richard nodded,

"No we don't." he stated coldly before walking past the bouncer. The man went to turn after Richard when Jack's fist rammed into his nethers with all the force of a runaway train. The heavy muscled bouncer fell to the ground, clutching at his bollocks in pain as he did so. Jack cheerfully turned to the waiting Goths,

"Doors are open tonight guys!" he told them joyfully before turning back to Richard. Richard raised an eyebrow and Jack scratched the back of his head, "Hey, Goth kids need love too you know."

Richard laughed suddenly, surprising Jack, before pushing his friend into the dark club,

"I know that more than most mate." He supplied with another chuckle before walking into the packed club. The music was loud, like in most clubs, but this music wasn't the bass of dance music but the heavy sound of death metal. Jack turned to Richard and pulled a face. Richard laughed and leaned in close,

"I know! I like punk better personally!" he shouted over the music to be heard. Jack nodded before making his way through the dancing crowd towards the bar. Richard tried to follow but had to untangle himself from a drunken Goth girl who was rubbing herself against his bare chest. When he reached the bar, Jack was already talking to someone else. The girl had short, black hair, that cascaded over the front of her face to cover almost all of it. Her skin was a silvery colour and her outfit seemed to consist of a thin strap of black latex that was wrapped around as little of her lithe body as possible. Richard could tell immediately tell that Jack approved of this costume. Jack was leaning forwards as he spoke to the girl, a large grin on his face as he did so. Richard slapped his hand onto Jack's shoulder, causing the flirting teen to jump in surprise. He laughed a little at his flustered friend before regarding the girl in front of him coolly. She shivered a little as he looked her over,

"You two brothers or something?" she asked over the music, a British accent clear in her voice. Richard and Jack looked at each other for a second before both turning back to her at the same time,

"Definitely not." They said in unison, causing the girl to laugh when they glared at each other. Jack reached up and touched the red X painted on the left side of his neck,

"I'm the X." he announced plainly before turning to the bar tender to order drinks. Richard nodded,

"He's X and I'm R." he finished for his friend. The girl raised an eyebrow at Richard and he sighed. Jack laughed,

"Go ahead and show her the tat mate!" he told his friend. Richard rolled his eyes and turned his back to show the black bird that spread across his entire back. The girl's eyebrow remained raised. Jack frowned, "The light's shit her man. Flex to catch the light!"

Richard rolled his eyes again. Was Jack flirting _for_ him? He complied, rolling his shoulder muscles to make the bird's breast rise slightly. The sharp intake of breath told him that the girl had seen the dark red R that dominated the centre of the otherwise black bird. He smiled and looped touched his first finger to his thumb on each hand before holding them over his eyes,

"Seeing the whole picture Argent?" he asked with a small smile. The girl, Argent, gasped again before looking between the two,

"R-Robin…! And Red X…!" she gasped again. Richard laughed a little and Jack smirked,

"You should save your breath now and stop with all the gasping…" he noted dryly. Richard hit his arm playfully before looking over at Argent, serious,

"We're starting a new team Argent." He told her simply. Jack grinned,

"How about it Goth girl? You want to be an Outsider?" he teased, earning himself another punch from Richard. Argent nodded quickly, fighting down her blush at seeing her crush half naked and rather gothic. Richard smiled and held out his hand,

"Welcome to the Outsiders. I'm Richard, your team leader." He announced loud enough for only Argent and Jack to hear. Jack nodded to her,

"And I'm Jack, the team's regular dose of comedic genius." He introduced himself with a smirk. Argent took Richard's hand,

"Toni, it's nice to meet you Dick." She replied as she shook Richard's hand. Richard winced at the nickname while Jack burst out laughing,

"Dick! Why didn't I think of calling you that?" he cackled to himself before wrapping an arm around each of his team-mates, "This is going to be so much fun!"

**Reader decision time! Should the next chapter skip to the next PR stunt, Robin's wake, or should The Outsiders recruit Jinx first? **

**Second decision to be made! Which other character, out of the following, should be included in the Outsiders' final line-up;**

**1) The Huntress (a teen version obviously)**

**2) Blackfire (meh, villains turn good all the time :P)**

**3) Batgirl (Teen Babs before The Killing Joke)**

**4) Other (please suggest and not just say none of the above)**


	4. FS: Weight of the World

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note: I decided to go with another recruitment chapter to prolong the voting process as, so far, each of the named choices has a vote for it.**

Weight of the World

The door opened again and Jinx rolled her eyes, yet another cop here to ask her why she'd turned herself in without a fight. She glanced up at the mirrored wall that dominated the tiny room. It wasn't hard to dominate the room though. After all, it was just a white interrogation room. Complete with hard, wooden, chairs and metal table. She looked down at the single handcuff that held her right wrist to the table leg. She scoffed, as if she couldn't break out of this place in a second.

A cough caught her attention and she looked up from her wrist to see a man sitting on the opposite end of the table to her, two cups of coffee in front of him and a file with her name on it. She looked the man up and down. He was young, 17 at a guess, and had jet black hair that looked as if it had been ruffled flat after being recently gelled up. His crisp, white suit suggested a serious attitude but the easy smile, showing perfect teeth, promised a calm and laid back person. What caught her attention though were his eyes. They were locked with hers, their light blue colour seemingly dancing as the light played across them. The man chuckled, his voice deep and smooth,

"If you're quite finished checking me out…" he teased good-naturedly. Jinx smiled a little back at the man. Playful banter was a welcome relief to the same old questions,

"You think very highly of yourself now don't you?" she replied, leaning forwards a little in her seat. The man leant forwards as well, resting his elbows on the table top,

"I haven't had any complaints yet." He shot back, the confident smile still firmly in place. Jinx scoffed,

"You haven't been with many girls have you?" she mocked, with little to no venom in her tone. He smirked back at her,

"No, I prefer women." He quipped back. Jinx blinked a few times in shock before falling back into her confident mind set,

"So full of yourself…" she mused out loud. He chuckled again,

"As opposed to being full of someone else?" he said, pretending to say it thoughtfully as she had. Jinx shook her head, her smile a little easier,

"So… what did you come here to ask me? I doubt you came here to have a verbal spar with me." She looked off to the side, at the mirror, as she spoke. Something collided with her upper arm gently. She looked down and saw that the man had slid one of the cups of coffee at her. With a slight frown she picked it up with her free hand. The man took a small sip from his own before returning to staring at her,

"My name is Richard Grayson. I here to talk to you about why you handed yourself in to this police station." He told her firmly. Jinx sighed loudly,

"And here I thought you were going to be different…" she took a drink from her coffee before pulling a face, "This is disgusting!"

Richard smirked,

"Yeah, not many people I know seem to like it. But sure beats tea." He opened her file and scanned it briefly before looking back up at her, "You don't seem to have a name, other than Jinx that is."

Jinx giggled,

"Thanks for not saying 'real' name when you said that." She stretched lazily, "Jinx is fine, and it suits me better than my other name anyway."

Richard shrugged,

"Hey, it's your call." He replied casually before flicking to the last page in the file. He smirked, "Says here you gave yourself up because Robin saved your life. Is that true?"

Jinx stared at Richard carefully,

"You're trying to slip me up." She smirked when he smiled a little, "I gave myself up because Robin DIED to save me and my friends."

Richard nodded and threw the file behind him casually, paying no mind to the large amount of paper that was now falling, slowly, to the floor. He smiled at Jinx's confused expression,

"That's all I needed to hear." He reached into his jacket with his right hand. When he pulled it back out he was holding something in his closed hand. With a slight flick of his wrist the tiny object slid across the table top, where Jinx stopped it with a finger. She looked down and her eyes widened when she saw that the object was a tiny key, just big enough to fit her handcuff. Taking it off the table quickly she looked back up at Richard as she unlocked her handcuff,

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, rubbing her sore wrist gingerly. Richard smiled easily as he rose from his seat,

"I'm not breaking you out Jinx, you're free to go." He told her plainly. Jinx's eyes narrowed,

"What's the catch?" she demanded firmly. Richard smirked,

"There is always a catch." He agreed before growing serious, "You'll never have to go back to prison if you agree to this next proposal."

Jinx smirked suddenly and acted shocked,

"It's a bit sudden to be asking THAT question isn't it? We barely know each other!" she pretended to swoon. Richard didn't smile,

"This is serious Jinx." He scolded her firmly, "I'm offering you a job."

Jinx raised an eyebrow,

"You working for the government or something?" she asked, slightly concerned by the edge that was now visible in his eyes. Richard shook his head,

"No, we are beyond the government." He told her quietly, "We are Outside the government."

Jinx frowned,

"But I'm going straight from now on." She pointed out. Richard smirked suddenly, surprising Jinx with the swift mood change,

"We are the good guys Jinx." He assured her, "We just act instead of react. We won't wait until people are dying to stop the bad guys."

She tilted her head to the side and frowned,

"So… you're like black ops heroes?" she asked, confused. Richard nodded, reaching into his jacket again,

"That's exactly right. A team of 'heroes' who are willing to do anything it takes to help people. And led…" he pulled a thin, black, mask from the jacket, "By a man everyone thinks is dead."

Jinx looked between the mask and Richard's face a few times before realisation dawned on her. She gasped,

"R-Robin…?" she whispered. Richard smiled and tapped the side of his nose as he slid the mask back into his pocket,

"Not a word little Jinx. Not a word."

**Page Break**

"Jack! Toni! We've got another friend here!" Richard called out loudly, his voice echoing in the huge main room of the underground shelter. A large TV dominated one half of the room, with an assortment of sofas in front of it, and the other half was taken up by a large doorway on the far wall and a wooden table that stretched the length of the entire room. He sat down at the head of the table, sighing as he took his suit jacket off before throwing it off into the corner of the room. With his left hand he waved Jinx over, pointing to the seat to his right with his other hand. The lithe spell caster mutely sat down in the offered chair, taking in the room as she did so. Richard chuckled at her reaction, "It used to be a nuclear fallout shelter for the personal of the Jump City army base."

Jinx shook her head slightly as she looked back down at Richard,

"You sure don't do things in half measures do you Robin?" she muttered with a mixture of jealousy and awe. Richard shook a finger at her,

"Robin is dead Jinx." He reminded her playfully. Jinx scowled,

"But you're right there! You're alive and you're going to show the world that when you go out to fight with this new team of yours!" she pointed out, she'd had time in the car ride over here to get over the shock of seeing her saviour alive and well. Richard fixed her with a stare that held all the paralyzing power of a powerful glare,

"And I am Richard Grayson, Robin doesn't exist anymore. He died." He explained, putting empathise on his name. Jinx frowned a little,

"So, what, you'll just lead this team from the background?" she asked, slightly angered by the idea. Richard smiled a little as Jack walked through the doorway on the far wall, with Toni behind him. Jack was dressed in simple jeans and a white polo shirt while Toni was now sporting a black sweater and conservative trousers. Jack smirked,

"You think this guy could last five minutes just giving orders?" he chuckled and pulled up a chair to Richard's left, "Nah, he's just changing his name."

Jinx raised an eyebrow as Toni sat down next to Jack. She looked at Richard but nodded her head at the other two discretely. Jack chuckled at the action while Toni simply rolled her eyes and began to play with a stray lock of her hair. Richard sighed,

"These are your new team-mates Jinx. The brown haired guy giving you the once over, Jack, is also Red X." he pointed to Jack who was busying checking Jinx out. He smirked but continued, pointing to Toni now, "And that's Toni, also known as Argent."

Toni simply nodded slightly at Jinx while Jack whistled lightly,

"I think I'm going to like this whole 'team' thing…" he muttered to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear him. Richard rolled his eyes,

"Try and ignored his flirting." He advised Jinx, who was beginning to look uncomfortable. She breathed a sigh of relief as Jack pretended to go into a pout. Toni moved some of her hair away from her eyes to look into Richard's,

"Are you sure we can trust her?" she asked neutrally. Richard shrugged,

"That's up to you Toni, I think she'll earn our trust soon enough. Just like Jack still has to earn your trust." He noted smoothly. Toni's cheeks coloured slightly and she nodded. Jinx frowned,

"So you trust Red X over me?" she shook her head, "I tried turning good a bunch of times! What has he done to earn your trust already?"

Jack looked embarrassed and he scratched the back of his head as he looked away. Richard patted his friend on the shoulder,

"Jack was kind enough to catch me when I fell from an exploding spaceship." He replied, as if it was something ordinary. Jinx's eyes widened and she poked Jack to get him to look at her,

"I thought you said that you were on your own side!" she hissed at him. Jack nodded,

"I still am." He smiled a little, an honest and open smile, "Richard just did something that made his side the same as mine."

Jinx smirked triumphantly,

"So what's he blackmailing you with?" she asked confidently. Jack glared up at her,

"Now look here-!" he began but stopped when Richard placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Richard smiled at Jinx,

"It turns out that during one of my charitable tours of Jump City I found Jack's mother, waiting for a partial heart transplant. They're very expensive because they're so rare. I was glad to help a mother in that situation." He told her truthfully. Jack nodded,

"I was only stealing to raise enough money to pay for my mother's hospital bills… then Richard came and paid for all of her hospital bills and the transplant itself." He told the pink haired girl. Jinx flushed, embarrassed,

"So… you're changing your name?" she asked Richard, trying to change the subject. Richard smirked,

"Yes I am, I've already got the costume and name ready." He told her. Jinx raised an eyebrow,

"And…?" she probed. Richard grinned,

"From now on I shall be called… Nightwing."

**The voting has to come to a close soon guys because after Robin's wake it's time to add the last member of The Outsiders!**

**Next Chapter – Robin's Wake, **


	5. FS: Remember the Name

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note****: This is kind of a filler chapter to allow for new reviewers to cast their votes for the next recruit. I swear, the next chapter will involve more Raven/Robin(Richard) interaction. I just felt like having Nightwing and Red X kick some ass in this chapter :P**

**Also, some more of the Titans and brief reactions from the Press.**

Remember the Name

Cyborg slammed the newspaper down on the table top with enough force to make a crack appear down the length of the wooden surface. Beast Boy looked up from his comic for a second before returning to his 'reading',

"What is it now Cy?" he asked his metal friend, still currently wrapped up in the latest issue of Cable and Deadpool. The robotic teen sighed heavily, sitting down hard in his chair at the head of the breakfast table,

"The paper is panning us again." He relented, returning to his sausage and bacon. Beast Boy muttered something under his breath before putting his comic down to give Cyborg his full attention,

"It's because we're not mourning enough for them Cy." He told his friend plainly. Cyborg frowned,

"How are we not mourning enough BB? We've already set up five different events dedicated to Robin's memory in the next six months. If anything they're panning us because they think we're feeling guilty." He replied, not caring that every bite he took of his meat platter caused Beast Boy to wince. The green teen scowled,

"They already think we are guilty." He slid another paper over to Cyborg, who stopped eating to scan its pages, "This is just one of the papers."

Cyborg scanned the headline of the Gotham Ghost.

**Titanic cover up: The Teen Titans bump off their leader**

Cyborg screwed up the paper with one of his mighty hands. He scoffed as he threw it over his shoulder,

"That's not an accurate representation and you know it BB. Gotham was Robin's hometown, they're just trying to find someone to blame." He assured his friend. The green titan scowled,

"And what if they're right Cy? We may not have pushed the ship's self destruct but Robin died because we didn't want to help him." He stated firmly. Cyborg stood up suddenly, slamming his hands on the table,

"That's bullshit! I-we are heroes god damn it! All we did was try and ensure that the people of this city didn't have to deal with those scum bags anymore!" he shook his head as he sat back down, calming himself, "I'm just not sure why Robin would risk his life to save the villains that he worked himself to death to try and imprison…"

"He did it because he was a real hero." Came the cold voice from the doorway. Both Cyborg and Beast Boy turned to look at Raven,

"What does that mean Rae?" Beast Boy asked, confused by the distinction between the term heroes. Raven scowled darkly at both teens,

"It means that Robin wasn't willing to let anyone die, regardless of what they'd done! He never stopped believing that anyone could be helped!" she declared firmly. The toaster was covered in a black aura for a few seconds before it exploded. Cyborg ignored the destruction of kitchen appliances,

"They made their choices Raven. They chose to murder, to steal and ruin lives. It didn't make any sense for all of us to die trying to give them yet another chance." He shot back. Raven's scowl darkened even more and the oven's door shot across the room,

"We were cowards Cyborg. We valued our own lives more than Robin's!" she shouted, tears threatening to escape her as they had done often since the incident. Beast Boy hung his head, refusing to make eye contact with Raven. Cyborg squared his shoulders,

"I stand by my decision Raven. I didn't go after him to save the prisoners because I knew that even if they were ejected, which he managed to do, then I would die as well. And I didn't want to leave this city when there is still so much good we could do." He explained, turning to look at Beast Boy. Beast Boy sighed, feeling the eyes of his fellow titans rest on him,

"I was afraid." He looked up at Raven, "I was afraid of dying Raven. We can't all ignore our fears like you Raven."

Raven tried desperately to keep the tears from running down her face but they slowly began to roll down anyway. Cyborg fixed her with a hard stare,

"And why didn't you help him Raven? You're so quick to judge but you didn't run off to help him free the villains either." He recalled. Raven winced, as if physically struck. She closed her eyes tight against the tears,

"I-I thought he could do it… he always won." She opened her eyes, now crying freely and angry, "He always won! Why? Why couldn't he have won this time…?"

Raven fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. The windows of Titan Tower exploded outwards once again. Starfire floated into the room solemnly and held Raven lightly in her arms, not saying a word. Beast Boy looked away, still ashamed of his own fear. Cyborg sat completely still, not giving anything away, trying to be the pillar of conviction that Robin had always been for the team. Starfire rubbed and soothing hand on Raven's shoulder,

"Friend Raven-" she began but stopped when Raven suddenly disappeared through the floor in a swirl of shadows. She looked up at her other friends and saw Beast Boy's shame and Cyborg's stiff expression. Shaking her head she floated back towards her room, "Forever truly isn't a long time…"

**Page Break**

Red X flew through the air for what seemed like forever before he landed on the next roof with a perfect roll after a difficult pike flip. Without breaking his stride he performed a forwards flip to pass over the low rise in the roof. Landing perfectly, again, he sprinted across the rest of the roof before leaping the gap to the next building. He stopped suddenly on the edge of the building, completely still as he balanced on the very edge of the roof with only the ends of his toes. Thankful that he'd ditched his boots before his exercises, X strained his ears. The sounds of a struggle in the alley directly bellow him reached his waiting ears. Straining more he heard a woman's muffled screams.

Rape.

Anger, raw and powerful, rushed through his veins and his reason abandoned him. With a single push with his toes he pushed away from the edge, falling backwards into the alleyway. As he began to fall he began to spin backwards. The fall was short and X landed crouched and facing the crime.

The attackers, for there were obviously three aggressors, were starting to tear pieces of the poor woman's clothes off. X growled low in his throat and jumped from his crouching position, pulling his legs up closer to his body as he shot up into the air. He flew over the head of one man and angled himself in the fall so that his coiled feet were pointing directly at his face. With savage force, X pushed his legs out as one. The mule kick snapped directly into the man's face, completely pulverising the man's nose while propelling X head first towards a brick wall.

Before his head could make contact with the wall, X reached forwards with his arms and pushed against the wall. This countered his forward momentum and pushed him backwards so that he could land, smoothly, on his feet. Displaying his great spatial awareness, X sank low to avoid a punch that had been aimed at his head by the attacker to his left. As he sank down he spun left, swinging his leg out in a sweep kick that sent the man head over heels to the ground.

With the completion of his sweep kick, X was now facing the man who had been to his left. This left the man who had been to his right a few seconds ago, behind him. Again showing his impressive spatial awareness, X jumped up from his low position and avoided the simple kick that had been aimed at him. He looked down, the world seemingly in slow motion, and saw the rapist's outstretched leg. With a roar of anger he landed, with his full body weight, on the man's leg, just above the knee. The upper leg went down with the added weight but the knee and lower leg went up as the connection between the two was brutally severed. X lightly jumped off the broken limb as the man let out a terrible scream of agony.

Without stopping for a second, X began to sprint the short distance between himself and the man he'd taken out with a sweep kick. Said man was groggily making his way to his feet. When the gap had been reduced to about two feet, Jack jumped in the air, spinning to the right to deliver a devastating flying kick with his right foot. As Jack landed on his toes, bouncing slightly, the man fell to the ground again, this time with blood pouring from his right ear. X stood still for the first time in the fight, his breathing heavy with rage rather than any real exertion. A strange sound snapped him out of his rage and sent him into a moment of sudden and brutal clarity.

The hammer of a handgun being pulled back.

X spun round on the spot as quickly as he could, avoiding the warning shot that sped past his left ear. The whistling sound of the bullet cutting through the air near his ear unnerved X to no end. He looked up and saw the man who he'd first taken down holding a large handgun, a Jericho 941 if he was not mistaken, to the head of the struggling woman he was restraining with his other arm. A human shield and an incredibly powerful handgun. X swore repeatedly in his mind but on the outside he remained alert and poised to capitalise on any mistake the gunman made. The man's bloody and twisted nose didn't seem to affect him too much, as the man was grinning broadly,

"Don't move or I'll paint the alley red with this bitch's brains!" he warned the hero. X narrowed his eyes behind his face mask, his mind racing to try and figure out how to diffuse the situation. X suddenly grinned widely,

"But I've seen something you haven't buddy." He told the gunman with a laugh. The crook scowled and turned when a noise came from behind him.

Nightwing grabbed hold of the shooter's wrist and pulled his arm further behind the man, forcing him to twist his body to avoid breaking his own wrist. With a swift palm thrust, Nightwing broke the man's arm at the elbow, forcing him to drop the gun and begin screaming even more. Nightwing dropped the man's arm and the attacker fell to his knees, sobbing over his broken arm. He looked up to scream at the hero and Nightwing slammed his palm into the man's already mutilated nose. The man screamed a little before passing out from the excess of pain. Nightwing tapped the woman on the shoulder, breaking her out of her shocked trance,

"Go home Miss." He advised her calmly. The woman bolted from the alley, not even thinking about her torn clothes or the two costumed heroes. Nightwing looked over at Red X, "I thought I told you to meet me at Jump General Bank."

X shrugged and looked his friend up and down, taking in the simple black costume and the plain, blue, bird emblazoned on the chest. Reaching down, he slammed the closest man's face into the ground, knocking him out instantly,

"I arrived just as they were going to begin to rape that woman. I wasn't going to just leave her." He defended himself. Nightwing smiled slightly,

"You're already becoming a better hero than most members of the Justice League are. You stopped the save the little guy despite a bigger picture threat at the bank." He nodded at the remaining thug, who was still nursing his broken leg, "I especially liked the way you broke his leg. The idea of using your landing isn't new but it is hard to accomplish."

X laughed as the man began to claw at something in his pocket,

"I'm surprised he didn't pass out to be honest." He replied casually. The downed crook laughed as he pulled a radio out of his pocket,

"You fuckers are dead! My boss is on his way right now!" he declared before slumping back against the wall, out cold. X turned to Nightwing,

"Do you think this boss will be a problem?" he asked his friend. Nightwing suddenly stiffened before snapping into a forwards roll. A second later the wall behind where Nightwing had been standing exploded in dust and bricks. X lowered his body slightly in a fighting stance and Nightwing stayed crouched down from his roll, facing the new hole in the wall. A hulking figure emerged from the dust, grinning broadly and stupidly. Mammoth was the 'boss' that the thug had eluded to. The massive metahuman laughed a huge, booming, laugh,

"You two are dead!" he roared before charging straight towards them recklessly. Nightwing threw a handful of exploding disks that exploded faithful on contact, causing Mammoth to stagger backwards. X dashed forwards quickly and crouched down low in front of the metahuman. Mammoth recovered from his initial pain from the exploding disks and looked down at X, ready to crush him with his greater body weight. X sprung upwards, flipping backwards with his right foot out. The bare sole of X's foot slammed into Mammoth's down-turned chin and sent the massive teen staggering backwards yet again. Red X spun on the spot to the right, his right heel slamming into Mammoth's chest to force him yet further back. Quickly, X feel into a crouch again, his hands braced on the ground. Nightwing sprinted from behind X for a few feet before running up the slope of X's crouched back. With a furious war-cry, Nightwing spun 360 degrees in the air to hit Mammoth is the temple with a powerful flying back kick. Mammoth wavered on the spot, blood pouring from his ears.

Nightwing landed from his attack and nodded at X. Red X ran forwards at the same time as Nightwing did. Just before they reached the villain, Nightwing jumped up to spin horizontally towards Mammoth's head while Red X dropped down low and spun into a quick sweep kick. Nightwing's feet collided with Mammoth's nose at the same time that Red X's sweep kick took the villain's legs out from under him. The metahuman fell backwards heavily, slamming into the ground with enough force to crack the concrete a little. X carried on spinning after his sweep kick, lifting his right foot high as he span. With great precision he slammed his foot down onto Mammoth's face in a powerful axe kick. The cracks in the concrete widened and Mammoth's eyes rolled into the back of his head.

X slumped backwards, his breathing heavy from exertion rather than anger this time. He looked over Mammoth's unmoving frame for a couple more seconds before falling onto his back, pulling his face mask off as he did so. Nightwing recovered from his awkward landing and strolled over to his friend,

"Good job there partner." He complimented casually while sitting down next to his friend. X chuckled lightly,

"So how's the bank situation?" he asked, slightly guilty that he'd gotten distracted from the problem they're police scanner had told them about. Nightwing shrugged,

"Jinx and Argent got the job done before the human shield part of the fight." He explained, keeping a wary eye on the entrance to the alleyway. X laughed and punched Nightwing in the arm playfully,

"You bastard! And you made me feel guilty about not reaching the destination on time as well!" he laughed again before closing his eyes to try and relax. Nightwing frowned as the first members of the press began to run towards the alley's entrance,

"Time to go Jack. The snappers are here." he commented dryly, pulling out his claw grapple. X looked over at the photographers and swore, pulling his face mask back on just in time to avoid being caught without it,

"And I wanted to relax as well…" he muttered before firing his own grapple up at the nearest building. Nightwing laughed as they both shot back up to the rooftops.

**The votes so far;**

**Batgirl – 2**

**Huntress (teen) – 1**

**Blackfire – 1**

**Black Lightning – 1**

**Voting is NOT closed. **

**I repeat.**

**Voting is NOT closed.**


	6. Author's Note

**This is an author's note but wait! Put your pitchforks down a second and I'll explain!**

**I've decided to give myself a bit of a run on with the introduction of the next recruit for The Outsiders through robin's wake so the voting is now closed.**

**I repeat.**

**The voting IS closed.**

**The results of the voting are as follows;**

**Huntress – 1**

**Blackfire – 1**

**Batgirl – 5**

**Black Lightning – 3**

**Speedy - 1**

**In this poll I have also voted, once, for Batgirl based on a review I received that gave me an idea. Now I shall respond to all of the reviews for chapters 4 and 5.**

**Poisonivy7**** – **You raise a valid point that anyone with half a mind could draw the link between Richard Grayson having been Robin and Bruce Wayne. However, Red X already knows because of the first chapter and the others will be set straight in the next chapter ;)

I'm incorporating the Press more, because the press of the time always reflects the mindset of the people, and the Justice League will become involved. As for the growth of the remaining Titans, they will grow but in all but one case it shall not be pleasant.

I find your argument for Batgirl very compelling and, although some aspects of your argument I disagree with, I accept your opinion as a reader. Batman would feel the need for retribution, I agree, but I also think that he would respect Richard enough to let him have a go on his own before he barged into his business.

Lots of ideas came from the review (and even you name!) and I'd like to thank you and urge you to keep reading.

**Flaglmr18 – **I've already sent you a personal response so I'll keep this brief. Thanks for the support and the vote :D

**Main Source of Annoyance – **Yes you did already vote, but I appreciate your support :P

**TheNightblade – **You lived up to your promise to review and I lived up to mine to post chapter 4. Good times :D

**Renee430 – **Although your vote was not unique I found you additional choices very interesting. I have an ingrained hatred towards Kid Flash and Aqualad I'm afraid so they are unlikely to appear in this story (punching bags? Maybe) but I'll try and see if Wondergirl could be fitted into the story at some point, as Speedy will. Supergirl eh? That is an excellent idea. Supergirl will be included in this story, but not as an Outsider.

**Narudbz15 – **And I LOVE reviews, nice of you to vote. I'll update for real soon.

**DClover – **Yeah, Cyborg will remain a jerk for most of the story I'm afraid. Strangely enough I've never actually read the comics for The Outsiders or any of the Titans. Or any comic book really. I just do lots of internet research :P

**Ale.28 – **I agree with you on everything in this review (yes I can love my own work without being selfish :P) and I do intend to keep Raven and Robin/Nightwing as the pairing. It will probably just take a hell of a long time to get there.

**IsabellaRoth – **I have just answered your review personally so I'm going to just copy and paste my response;

First things first... I want to make love to the Raven in your profile picture.

*cough*

Now that's been established I can answer the rest of the review.

Speedy eh? Mmm... he doesn't really fit in very well with this story but a vote is a vote. The next chapter will be an Author's Note with the results of the voting.

Titans can burn in hell but they're not all bad. Well... some of them aren't :P

And there will be much, much Raven/Richard interaction within the next chapter. I'm talking about ballgown and tux moonlit dancing to Nate King Cole :D

**AND THAT IS ALL OF THE REVIEWS FOR CHAPTERS 4 AND 5 RESPONDED TO! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT USING AN ACCOUNT DOES NOT MEAN YOU'RE SAFE FROM MY RESPONSES! MUHAHAHA!**

**I'll do the next chapter soon okays? :D**


	7. FS: Calling to the Night

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note:**** More Richard/Raven! But we also see two new additions to the Jump City drama! The Justice League is interested and the press of Jump City find a new group of heroes to idolise. Also, we see the playboy attitude that comes from being raised by a billionaire bachelor. **

Calling to the Night

Kara sighed as she floated through the nigh infinite halls of the Watchtower, her red cape flying lazily behind her. Tucking a stray strand of her blonde hair behind her ear she floated into the recreational area, past the giant television, and over to one of the many vending machines. Idly, she pushed a button on the machine and turned to look at the television as the can worked its way through the machine. CNN was on the TV at the moment, not strange in itself, but The Flash was watching it. Kara almost stopped floating in shock. Taking the can of coke she floated over to sit on the sofa next to the anxious looking hero,

"What's got you in a state Wally?" she asked casually, noting that CNN seemed to be listing casualty figures. The Flash shook his head,

"It's those kids from Jump… lots has happened since we last took a look down there Kara." He muttered sadly. Kara frowned but took a sip of her coke before continuing,

"So? What's been happening Wally?" she asked, not feeling particularly linked to Jump like her friend. Wally sighed and rubbed the side of his face fretfully,

"It's the Titans. They lost Robin and things have been going dow-" he was cut off by Kara choking on some of her drink. She held up a hand,

"You're telling me that Robin's dead?" she asked, rather loudly. Wally smiled a little, almost his usual joking smile,

"Why are you suddenly so interested Kara? I know he's your age but bird-boy was a bit too frail for you wasn't he?" he teased lightly. Kara felt herself blush a little,

"It's not like that. We were friends." She told him, trying not to remember the fun she'd had with Robin when the Titans visited the Watchtower. Wally shrugged, going back to the sorry state she'd found him in,

"Well yeah. Robin died trying to save the Jump City villains when they were to be taken away by some alien prison guards." He shook his head and pointed to the TV, "And now the other Titans are getting a lot of heat for not going to help Robin save the villains. They're talking about giving some of the lesser villains pardons. Some politicians are trying to make names for themselves out of this."

Kara frowned in thought, taking a sip of her coke every couple of seconds. Wally suddenly sat up straight and she looked back at the news.

"… _and now we have some breaking news from Jump City. It appears that the metahuman known as 'Cinderblock' has been terrorising downtown Jump for the past twenty minutes and there is no sign of the Teen Titans or any other…" _The reporter stopped talking suddenly, listening to his earpiece. Wally put his head in his hands in despair. Kara patted him on the back gently before the reporter looked back up at the camera,

"_A new development! It seems that a team of metahumans and humans are engaging Cinderblock in battle!"_

Wally instantly looked back up at the screen, his expression hopeful. Kara raised an eyebrow as the picture changed to a shaking field reporter standing in a ruined street, a battle waging behind him. The reporter turned so that the cameraman had a clear line of sight, allowing Wally and Kara to see a massive, rocky, metahuman fighting off two flying figures and two grounded figures.

"_At this point it is very hard to get a clear picture of the events unfolding here but it appears that three of the new combatants have been identified! One is believed to be a metahuman heroine known as Argent, who belonged to the Teen Titans briefly. The other two are… I don't believe this…"_

The reporter bent over to try and listen to his earpiece better. Wally and Kara leaned forwards on the sofa, not caring when Kara's coke crashed to the floor. The reporter straightened up,

"_Reports indicate that the other two known combatants are villains! One was recently a member of the HIVE, known by the codename Jinx, __and the other is Jump City's very own master thief, Red X. What's even more puzzling is why all three of these fighters seem to be taking orders and directions from the fourth, unnamed, figure. This could be a new crime fighting team for Jump City! A team with heroes and reformed villains!"_

Wally swore loudly, throwing the remote control across the room as he did so. Kara, having never heard Wally swear before, jumped away from him in shock. Wally stood up suddenly,

"This is just great! This will just encourage those damned politicians!" he kicked a potted plant, breaking the pot. Kara stood up and was about to go over to her friend when the CNN field reporter almost jumped out of his skin in excitement. The movement caught her eye and she turned to look at the fourth figure, a black-clad man with a domino mask and blue bird print on his chest, who had just been bullied into the corner by the reporter,

"_Sir! Sir! The people of Jump City must know the name of their new protectors and their leader! Why has your team disappeared? What's the team called? What are you called? Answer the people sir!"_

Kara felt sorry for the man who was now pressed against a wall and having the cameraman walk ever closer to him. The hero scratched the back of his head sheepishly before shrugging,

"_I'm just a guy who likes to help out where he can. The team is called The Outsiders, that's all you need to know about us."_

The reporter pushed his microphone under the man's nose,

"_But what of you? Who are you?"_

The hero scowled darkly at the man before sighing, returning his face to a neutral expression,

"_My name has never been important. But, if you must know, then you may call me… Nightwing."_

Kara froze, her body going completely rigid. Her mind was racing with this new information. Nightwing. The name of a mythical protector from her home world. Perhaps he was like her?

Wally looked over at Kara, his anger replaced by concern,

"Are you alright Kara?" he asked quietly. Kara nodded before slowly beginning to float out of the room,

"Yeah… I just have to talk to Clark about this!" she answered before beginning to fly in earnest. She hadn't made it more than a handful of meters past the doorway before she flew directly into the person she's been looking for. Clark looked down at Kara with a slightly frown. Kara quickly recovered,

"Clark! Have you seen the news?" she asked him quickly. Clark nodded,

"You're talking about what's going on in Jump City?" he asked, with a look that suggested he knew the answer already. Kara nodded,

"What about… what about that new hero they're talking about?" she probed carefully. Clark rubbed his closed eyes in frustration,

"I really don't know Kara. But we need a League member to go down to Jump City and try and lend the Titans a hand. Maybe you could go. I'm sure you'd be able to find something out." He suggested slyly. Kara smirked,

"Consider it done cus!"

**Page Break**

"Damn it Rich! Do we really have to wear these monkey suits?" demanded an angry Jack as he tried to loosen his bow tie. Jinx, dressed in a simple black cocktail dress and with dyed black hair, hit his arm lightly,

"Stop fidgeting Jack. We've only just arrived at the ball!" she scolded his lightly. Jack looked down at his tuxedo with a scowl,

"I know. I already want to rip this thing off." He commented bitterly. Richard, dressed in a tuxedo of his own, chuckled and readjusted his own bow tie so that it was centred correctly,

"It's not that bad Jack." He told his friend with a smirk. Toni pulled on Richard's sleeve to get his attention. He turned to look at her, sweeping ball gown and all, and smiled,

"What's up Toni?" he asked casually. Toni frowned,

"There's a man behind me who's been watching us since we first walked through the door." She muttered quietly. Richard looked over her shoulder and nodded to the man with a smile,

"That's just Bruce." He told her gently. Toni whipped around to study the man,

"That's Bruce Wayne?" she asked, amazed that a business man could be built like a body builder. Richard chuckled,

"Yeah, Dad's been hitting the weights a bit too much lately I must admit." He said with another chuckle as he took a glass of wine from a travelling waiter. Toni frowned,

"I thought your dad died." She said quietly. Richard stiffened a little before taking a drink of wine,

"You've been digging." He observed, a painfully false smile on his face. Toni looked away, her cheeks colouring,

"Well I… I wanted to know more about you." She relented. Richard relaxed slightly, his smile growing more natural and comforting,

"Don't worry about it. You're right about my dad to a certain extent." He smiled fondly at Bruce who looked confused, "When Bruce took me in he became my father."

Jinx decided to join the conversation,

"So he's Batman right? Your dad was Batman so you became Robin." She commented quietly. Toni nodded in agreement and watched Richard's face carefully for the answer. Richard chuckled easily while his mind panicked a little,

"No, Bruce was my father. Batman was my teacher." He told them, not lying but not the whole truth. Jinx laughed,

"Batman's a teacher?" she asked, still using a hushed whisper. Richard nodded but pushed her away slightly,

"Yes but you might want to stop whispering." He looked at Toni with a smile, "You too. Bruce might think I'm taking after him if it looks like I've got two incredible women whispering in my ears."

Toni blushed darkly, turning away to avoid Richard seeing, and Jinx laughed before pushing Richard playfully,

"Enough of that talk boy! People will talk of your playboy ways!" she teased before grabbing a distracted Jack and pulling him away from Richard and Toni. Jack struggled,

"What the hell?" he demanded loudly, earning himself a few stares from the social elite gathered in the hall. Jinx smacked him round the back of the head noisily before dragging him towards the exit,

"We're going home! You can't be trusted with all the shiny things in this room!" she declared. Jack struggled even more,

"Shiny things? I'm not a magpie, woman!" he shot back, mock anger in his voice. Jinx ignored him and the two disappeared through the door. A woman stood next to Richard, chuckling lightly at the spectacle,

"Do they usually do things like this?" she asked him lightly. Richard looked to his right and almost jumped in surprise. Supergirl, Kara, was standing next to him, calmly sipping a glass of white wine. He forced himself to relax quickly,

"Unfortunately they do." He replied with a small smirk. Kara turned to face him, holding her hand out for him,

"It's nice to meet you. I'd introduce myself but this shirt gives it away." She said with a pretty smile. Richard mentally slapped himself. He'd be seen as a playboy, just like Bruce, before the night was done. Outwardly he smiled smoothly and took Kara's hand, lightly kissing the back of it,

"The pleasure if mine Miss. My name is Richard Grayson." He told her, slowly letting go of her hand to leave her with a lingering touch before he pulled his hand away entirely. The blonde woman smiled a little more,

"You're Bruce's boy, right?" she looked around him, making Richard a little uncomfortable, "You came alone?"

Richard looked behind him and couldn't see Toni anywhere. He turned back to Supergirl with a playful grin,

"It appears that I did." He replied before taking a quick sip of his wine. He raised an eyebrow, "So what are you doing here? Is a wake really League business?"

The blonde heroine wilted a little,

"I knew Robin. We were friends." She told him sadly. Richard smiled warmly and rested a comforting hand on her shoulder,

"He'll always remain as long as you remember him." He told her quietly. She smiled at him before giving him a quick peck on the cheek,

"Thank you. I think I'll need that to get through tonight." She told him before walking away, merging with the dancers. Richard relaxed and finished his wine in one gulp. Bruce stood across the room, looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Richard shook his head before discretely flipping his mentor the bird. The billionaire just laughed.

**Page Break**

When Richard saw Raven his breath caught in his chest.

Her flowing, violet, hair fell to her shoulders looking like spun silk, the light from the chandeliers above reflecting off of its smooth surface to frame her face beautifully. She was wearing a black dress with red lining, the top half of the dress taking on a corset-like appearance. Black gloves came up to her elbows, leaving only her upper arms, upper chest and face to show the world her perfect skin.

Raven turned to look at him with a small, timid, smile and Richard felt a burning sensation in his chest. He was unaware of what caused the pain until he remembered that he'd stopped breathing. Taking a shaky first breath he walked over to Raven, bowing his head slightly at her when he stopped in front of her,

"We meet again Raven." He noted coolly. Raven's smile grew a little braver,

"Richard Grayson. Why am I not surprised?" she asked with a small smirk. Richard's heart leapt into his throat but he calmed himself quickly,

"Perhaps because a part of you wished for my company?" he suggested with his own smirk. Raven rolled her eyes playfully,

"That must be the reason." She agreed sarcastically. Acting on an impulse, Richard reached out and took Raven's hand. She looked at him in confusion before he pulled her body close to his and place his left hand on the small of her back. Her eyes glowed dangerously, "What do you think you're doing?"

Richard smiled confidently and leant down to whisper in her ear,

"I think I'm slow dancing with the beauty of the ball…" he purred into her ear. He smiled a little more when he felt her back muscles loosen considerably. He pulled away from her ear ever so slowly and looked down into her shining, purple, eyes. Her cheeks were slightly red in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. With the same smile still in place, Richard nodded at the brass band. The conductor nodded back and a new song began to play. Raven perked upon hearing the song start,

"This is Nat King Cole…" she muttered quietly. Richard pulled her body flush against his own, smiling genuinely down at her,

"Unforgettable. Robin once told me you liked big band music and soulful singers… I couldn't think of any other song that would fit you so well." He told her honestly. Raven blushed furiously and one of the strings in the band's piano snapped loudly. Richard chuckled and began to sway with Raven cradled in his arms tightly. Closing his eyes, Richard felt his smile grow impossibly wide. This was what he'd always wanted to do with Raven. Ever since they'd first met he'd wanted to hold her close to him and their time together had only strengthened that desire. He'd marched into Hell to get her back for just such a reason. He wouldn't let her leave him without letting him hold her like this first. And now doubted he'd ever let her leave him because she'd let him hold her so close and so tenderly. Slowly, he opened his eyes again and stared deeply into her purple orbs of perfection,

"Raven… there's something I want to tell you…" he whispered, his throat suddenly dry and his voice hoarse. She looked back up into his eyes, tilting her head up to do so,

"What is it Richard…?" she breathed lightly, causing a shiver to shoot up his spine. His eyes were drawn to her lips, so soft and plump. He slowly began to lean his head down,

"Raven… I-" Richard was interrupted however, when a red headed figure barrelled into him. He was torn away from Raven's inviting embrace and sent staggering backwards with a red headed girl latched onto his waist. Richard looked down, ready to personally destroy whoever had interrupted his precious moment with Raven, and his jaw dropped,

"B-Barbara?"


	8. FS: Hero of the Day

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note:**** Shorter than normal I know. Just a note to beg for more reviews! Please review! Please!**

Hero of the day

Richard pulled Barbara off of him, his earlier anger still bubbling bellow the surface, and stood up again, patting himself down. The red head smiled up at him before bouncing up to her feet,

"It's been ages Rich!" she declared before wrapping her arms around him tightly. Richard sighed and hugged her back. He could never stay made at Babs. He chuckled lightly,

"But did you have to tackle me?" he whispered into her ear, squeezing her slightly to emphasize his point. She looked up at him, an innocent expression on her face,

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked, fake innocence almost dripping off of her words. Richard detached himself from Barbara and walked back over at a confused looking Raven,

"I was dancing with Raven." He told her with a small smile. Barbara's eyes narrowed slightly, almost unnoticeably, before she walked over to Raven,

"Oh, hello. You were dancing with Richard were you?" she looked Raven up and down pointedly. Raven raised an eyebrow,

"I would have thought that was obvious." She replied in a monotone. Barbara smirked and looked back up at Richard,

"You're tastes have changed Richard… I thought you liked women, not girls." She leant forwards with her words. Richard tried valiantly to ignore how Barbara's light blue dress clung to her body. Raven's raised eyebrow remained raised,

"You seem to be suffering under a delusion. Richard and I are… friends." She told the other woman firmly. Richard winced, as if struck across the face. Barbara noticed but didn't let on; instead she smiled a little bit more genuinely down at the slightly smaller Raven,

"Oh, it's good to see that little Richard has some friends in Jump." She replied, stressing the word 'friends'. Bruce chuckled, alerting the teens to his proximity,

"You talking about little Dick?" he teased, nudging Richard in the shoulder playfully. Barbara stared at Richard meaningfully with half lidded eyes,

"Oh no, definitely not 'little' Dick…" she purred. Richard suddenly felt a large lump form in his throat but resisted the urge to gulp. It would give Barbara too much satisfaction to see the effect her words had on him. Instead he turned to Bruce,

"Dad, I'd like to introduce you to my…" he paused only briefly to force out the next few words, "Friend Raven."

Bruce noticed the pause, he was Batman after all, but said nothing. His face remained the same, the same genuinely happy smile in place, but Richard knew that Bruce was most likely imagining himself beating Raven to a pulp for not saving him from the fall. Richard placed a hand on his mentor's shoulder and Bruce seemed to refocus himself enough to shake Raven's hand,

"Always nice to meet one of Dick's friends." He told her kindly. Richard rubbed his closed eyes as Raven began to talk to Bruce, quietly, about his company. He was suddenly very tired of this place. Tired of the way that Bruce and Barbara seemed to be bullying Raven with flawless, fake kindness. And tired of the way he saw his own, masked, face every time he looked at the walls. Pictures of Robin were everywhere, each with their own black band in the top right corner. Richard's patience snapped and he simply walked away from the group.

Bruce frowned at his son's behaviour but deep down he knew that he was part of the reason why Richard was upset. He glanced down at Raven quickly. But he couldn't help himself. He'd never let anyone get away with hurting his son, if he couldn't stop them before, and he was damned if he'd let this girl hurt Richard. But, a side of him reminded, Richard loved the girl and didn't hold a grudge against her. So he'd wait until she'd hurt him again before he made moves to remove her from his son's life. He politely excused himself.

Richard almost marched over to the bar, finding Toni resting against it lightly. He stopped next to her, sighing as he almost collapsed against the bar. His eyes stayed closed when he tried to blink. He was just too tired. He didn't have the drive to open his eyes and face all of them again. But he did despite himself. He turned to Toni and sighed again, realising from her dopey smile and shaking legs that the little Goth girl had been drinking. He placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, this simple action made her giggle madly. Richard ignored the giggling,

"Toni? Are you alright to walk? We're going home." He told her in a gentle but firm voice. Toni flopped forwards, leaving a confused Richard to catch her. The Goth giggled yet again, wrapping her arms around his waist,

"Oh Richie cares about me!" she cried out in a loud and joyous voice. Richard looked up from the Goth hugging him and noticed that all attention was now focused on him. He felt his face go red with embarrassment and he pushed Toni back until she was standing almost on her own again, his hand on her shoulder being her only support. She giggled and tried to hug him again, this time aiming her body higher. Richard's eyes widened and he managed to stop her in mid-glomp,

"What are you doing Toni?" he asked her in a hushed whisper, trying to salvage something from this embarrassing mess. Maybe some truths would help him-

"I'm showing my love for you Richie!" she declared loudly, and proudly. Richard's train of thought collided with another train, thousands of his little brain cells were killed. He shook his head and decided that there was no way to salvage Toni's social standing anymore. With a sigh he lifted the Goth girl up off the ground, Toni laughed hysterically at this point. He shook his head before unceremoniously setting her down on his right shoulder, carrying her as he made his way over to the nearest exit. He sighed as he passed through all of Jump city's most famous,

"Well at least this night can't get any worse…" he muttered under his breath. Toni giggled loudly and Richard's eyes widened. She'd heard him. The Goth girl shifted slightly on his shoulder,

"Hey everyone! Look at me on big Dick!" she called out as loud as she could. The entire room turned to look at an exceedingly embarrassed Richard. He turned round to face most of the stares and waved a little childishly,

"My, my this little girl seems to have managed to get herself some alcohol. I'm going to take her back to her house now." He told them before immediately making for the exit. He was halfway down the street before he set Toni down on the sidewalk, now totally composed. She patted herself down, her face now only slightly amused and not drunkenly amused,

"So… did you like my act Richie?" she teased lightly. Richard chuckled and hugged her tight, causing an unseen blush,

"You did great Toni. I didn't really want to have to use that escape method but it was getting really uncomfortable in there." His shoulders slumped a little as they began to walk back. Toni shrugged,

"Don't worry about it. We're a team." She told him simply. Richard smirked,

"I didn't know you were such a good actress though." He told her, stuffing his hands into his pockets to search for his car keys. Toni stopped him walking and pressed her body against his, pulling his head down to whisper in his ear,

"Who said that it was all acting?" she purred before releasing him and continuing down the path. Richard blinked a few times before striding to catch up,

"You're kidding right?" he asked her, slightly concerned. Toni laughed,

"Hey, the press aren't the only ones who'd love to see you out of 'costume'."

Richard's bow tie suddenly seemed very tight.

Page Break

Richard marched into the room, barely giving the automatic door enough time to slide open,

"Jack, we need to talk!" he declared firmly towards the room's owner and occupant. When no answer came he took the time to look around his friend's room. It was a dark space, with a strangely grey wallpaper and very small windows. His double bed was immaculately clean, with a set fresh of linen already in place and ready for him when he decided to sleep that night. A work bench, much like the one in his own room, was set up in a darkened corner of the room. Newspaper clippings of the Teen Titans surrounded the workbench, each one with Jack's hand written notes for each of the Titans during the battle that the clipping was referring to. Richard chuckled. Seemed that Jack and he were very similar indeed.

With only a little hesitation he walked over to the workbench, turning off the bright computer monitor. He looked down at the only photograph near the bench that wasn't in the black and white of a newspaper clipping. It showed a young woman with light brown hair, holding a small boy, around age 3 if he had to guess, above her head and smiling with joy as the boy laughed. Richard smiled at the single picture of Jack and his mother together, before her illness had developed. A soft sound behind him made him relax slightly,

"It's a beautiful photograph Jack." He told his friend. Jack reached around Richard and put the photograph back on the work bench, face down. Richard turned to his friend, who had discarded his towel from showering to pull on some clothes, "Look Jack… I'm sorry if this is invading your privacy."

Jack chuckled as he pulled a black t-shirt over his blue jeans,

"It's fine Richard. I just haven't gotten around to getting a photo with you and the rest of the guys yet. I will though." He gestured at the newspaper clippings, "Those aren't exactly what I'm looking for in a photograph of friends."

Richard smiled easily,

"Well I do need to talk to you about something Jack… something that only a close friend would be able to help with." He relented, feeling a little foolish. Jack sat on his bed and gestured for Richard to sit at the work bench's chair,

"Do tell Dick." He teased lightly. Richard ignored the teasing and sat down with a sigh,

"Well Toni… I'm starting to get the feeling that she's… well that she's got a thing for me as something more than a friend." He managed to splutter out. Jack raised an eyebrow,

"There's more to this isn't there?" he probed gently. Richard rubbed his eyes with yet another sigh,

"There seems to be more than one person with similar feelings." He muttered, just loud enough for Jack to hear. The brown haired youth nodded,

"Raven?" he asked, confident that he knew the answer. Richard's face suddenly fell,

"No, not Raven." He whispered quietly. Jack coughed and rushed to change the subject from the Gothic girl,

"Then who else?" he asked quickly. Richard knew that his friend was steering the subject away from Raven and went along with it gladly,

"Well Barbara is in town because Bruce wants her to join the team." He replied with, yet another, sigh. Jack was suddenly interested,

"Batgirl's going to be joining the team?" he asked, a small smirk forming. Richard held up his hands,

"I've already poked that hornet's nest man; you're welcome to have your shot." He told his friend quickly. Jack's smirk turned to a smile,

"I'll give it my best. Is there anything else?" he asked, quickly losing interest in Richard's problem to try and figure out how to get into Barbara's heart. Richard scratched the back of his head,

"Well Kara's been taking a lot of interest in Nightwing…" he muttered to himself. Jack was instantly alert,

"Kara? As in SUPERGIRL?" he screamed, his expression one of sheer panic. Richard raised an eyebrow,

"Calm down man, she's alright when you get to know her." He tried to calm his friend. Jack was not having it,

"Calm down? She's a female superman! And you know that guy won't take to me and Jinx going straight! They'll send us back to the prison!" he shook his head, his expression positively venomous, "I'm not going back to prison Richard, I've changed! I won't leave my mother alone again!"

Richard held something small in his hand and showed it to Jack,

"If she tries then she'll see the Nightwing that she wants to see." He declared firmly.


	9. Teaser One

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note:**** I've decided that this story is going to start coming in series. This is the teaser to the Series One finale that will make up the next few chapters! I am planning for three series, including this one. The plots are already in my head and will all be posted as chapters in this story! There will be no need to search for new stories! **

**Also, more DC characters will be included within the series finale and the other two series. To name just a few;**

**Two-Face**

**Batman (duh)**

**Jason Todd**

**Martian Manhunter**

**So prepare for the end of series one! **

**The Outsiders, ****Series One: The Robin Reformed**

Teaser 1

This is breaking news from Jump City, Channel Five news! A riot broke out in the early hours of the morning at the City's maximum security prison. Reports indicate that over a thousand criminals, guilty of crimes including violent assault and murder, took over the prison.

A list of demands issued has led the authorities to believe that all of the prisoners are being co-ordinated by a group of intelligent, metahuman and human, priority level five prisoners. The demands include amnesty from all current convicts, and any future crimes, along with their safety guaranteed as they leave the city. The demands also state that the other thousand, deadly, prisoners are to be allowed to leave the prison. The remaining prison guards and the JCPD are holding the only gate out of the prison and have been repelling attacks made by the prisoners using rubber bullets in order to avoid killing any of the prisoners. This comes after mayoral candidate Slade Wilson made this statement,

"_These people have problems! Violence is never an answer to a problem but if it must be used then it must be used in the smallest degree possible. If our brave police officers fire on those prisoners with live rounds then they will be committing murder and they will be sent to the same prison once it is repaired. So I urge the Jump City Police Department to use rubber rounds when containing the prisoners! Give them the chance to make pay for their mistakes and to deal with their problems!"_

This statement comes as Mr Wilson prepares to make his last public speech before the polls are opened this coming weekend. The statement was supported by JCPD's current star detective, one Edward Nigma, who is on loan from the Gotham City Police Department. Detective Nigma is currently in the process of attempting to deduce a non-violent solution to the riot.

Yet more breaking news in the Jump City Prison Riot story!

A charge of prisoners has overrun the prison guards and police officers manning the gate out of the prison! Over one thousand, two hundred non-powered criminals are now pouring onto the streets of Jump City, with a large number of prominent metahuman inmates joining them! Several of these criminals are only here in Jump City due to the reform exchange between Jump City Prison and Arkham Asylum of Gotham. With no sign of the Teen Titans, or any other heroes, this station is urging all families to lock their doors and hide further inside their homes. The police and National Guard are already on their way and have released this statement. When the JCPD was asked for a comment on the whereabouts of the City's heroes we were given this response by an injured Detective Nigma;

"_Birds fly faster with favourable winds. The heroes are coming." _


	10. Series One Finale Part One

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note: The whole 'series' thing has been causing confusion. Basically I'm using it as a way to organise the chapters of this story. It will all be posted here. Just put on 'story alert' for this fic and you'll be notified about all updates, including the next two series.**

Series One Finale – Part One

Me and my Gang

Kara frowned; sitting in the passenger seat of a stealthy jet was not the way she was used to travelling. Being SUPERGIRL, she was able to fly. Except when Barbara insisted that she stay inside the jet. Something about arriving at the same time so that she left some of the bad guys for her to get. Barbara, who was piloting the jet, smirked at her friend,

"What's wrong Kara? The jet's cool." She defended the bat-shaped craft. Kara snorted and looked off to the side with a childish pout,

"Flying yourself is better." She replied firmly. Barbara giggled,

"Yeah, because getting flies on your face really strikes fear into the hearts of the villainous!" she declared mockingly. Kara stuck her tongue out at her friend playfully,

"No, the giant S on my chest does that." She replied, equally as mocking. Barbara laughed,

"Our just your chest." She suggested with a smirk. Kara frowned slightly,

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, now trying to decide if she should be offended by her friend's words or not. Barbara rolled her eyes,

"You're wearing a push-up Kara." She stated simply. Kara blushed furiously and crossed her arms over her chest,

"So what if I am?" she challenged. Barbara's smirk grew,

"If you wanted to get Nightwing's attention I could just introduce you to him. I do know the guy." She informed her alien friend. Kara slapped her hands down onto her lap,

"You know who he is?" she exclaimed in shock. Barbara nodded with a small grin,

"Did I forget to mention that bit?" she asked innocently. Kara glared at her friend,

"Seriously Babs, he could be just like me." She pleaded. Barbara shrugged,

"Sorry to burst your bubble Kara but he's pure blood human. No powers and no alien heritage. He's just a regular guy." She told her friend calmly. Kara deflated a little,

"Well there goes the theory that he's from my home…" she grinned a little, "Doesn't stop him being hot though."

Barbara spluttered, causing the jet to shake violently before she composed herself enough to glare at the giggling Kryptonian,

"You did that on purpose." She declared with a frown. Kara smiled broadly,

"Maybe…" she slowly began to twirl a strand of her hair around a finger, "So you know him right?"

Barbara nodded, turning her gaze back to the sky ahead of her,

"Yeah. We were close. We even dated for awhile." She reluctantly revealed. Kara's smiled grew even wider,

"You dated huh? Was it serious?" she probed. Barbara got a wistful look in her eyes as she accelerated the jet,

"Yeah… he even asked me to marry him at one point…" she muttered quietly. Kara squealed girlishly,

"Ooooh! What happened? Why did you let something that delicious go?" she probed even harder. Barbara sighed,

"Because it wouldn't have worked out. He would go into these… gaps, where he'd totally obsess over a crime or a villain. I wouldn't be able to reach him during those times and he wouldn't come out of it until he'd solved the problem. I knew that our marriage wouldn't have lasted even one of those." She replied, valiantly trying to keep her mind on simply flying to Jump City. Kara was quiet for awhile before she shifted a little in her seat,

"So he's off-limits?" she asked quietly. Barbara blinked a few times before chuckling,

"No, he's up for grabs alright. I had my shot, someone else can take theirs." She spared Kara a quick glance that left no doubt to whom she was referring. Kara giggled before raising an eyebrow at her friend,

"So we both know he's in great shape, his suit is revealing. But…" she smirked, "How is he?"

Barbara frowned,

"'How is he?' What are you talking about?" she asked. Kara just stared at her. Barbara suddenly put two and two together, "That's disgusting Kara! Asking about my past sex-life…"

Kara raised her hands in a calming gesture,

"Hey, I'm only curious. I want to know what I'd be getting myself into." She defended quickly. Barbara was quiet for a few seconds before a crooked smile formed,

"A world of fun Kara, you'd be getting yourself into a world of fun." She told her friend. Kara smirked,

"So how big is he?"

Barbara almost crashed the jet again,

"Damn it Kara! We're going to stop a prison riot! Not talk about sex with Nightwing!"

Page Break

Nightwing shuddered suddenly.

Red X spared his friend a glance as they both continued to get changed into their respective uniforms,

"What the hell was that man?" he asked his friend as he struggled to pull his boots on. Nightwing shrugged,

"Someone must be talking about me…" he muttered as he started to fill his utility belt's compartments from the equipment closet that he and Red X had taken to sharing. X frowned,

"I thought that was when your ears burned." He commented idly, still trying to get his right boot on. Nightwing shook his head,

"Nah, I was always taught that the burning ears was when someone was jealous of you." He replied, digging around inside the closet for smoke pellets. X snorted,

"Then your ears should have burnt off by now man. You're like a model man to be jealous of Dick… girls are hanging off you, you can pull off the 'latex look' well and you're rich." He explained, now hopping around the changing room with one foot while he tried to pull his boot on the other. Nightwing withdrew from the closet with a handful of smoke pellets, which he proceeded to feed into his utility belt,

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm so easy to be jealous of." He defended himself before patting Red X on the shoulder, almost toppling the wavering hero, "Now hurry up Jack. You know you're late when the girls are ready before you."

Red X scowled before finally succeeding in pulling his boot on,

"That's true though…" he muttered as they both exited their shared changing/equipment room and entered the main area of the bunker. Both Argent and Jinx were already dressed in their gothic crime fighting outfits, Argent was rolling her neck in a bored fashion while Jinx filed her nails delicately. Nightwing coughed quietly to get their attention. Jinx didn't look up,

"We know you're ready Dick." She told him curtly, still filing her nails. Argent looked Nightwing up and down before smirking,

"Looks even better on you tonight… Dick." She purred throatily. Nightwing gulped and Red X had to smirk widely behind his skull mask. Jinx flicked the nail file at Argent with a frown,

"Down girl, we have to go kick some ass." She reminded her friend playfully. Argent pouted at Nightwing, leading forwards to show him down the front of her dress,

"Do we have to? We could do other things, my fearless leader." She teased before hurrying out the bunker's front entrance with Jinx. Red X patted Nightwing on the shoulder and tilted his masked face to the side,

"Is it a pain to be so desired Dick?" he asked mockingly. Nightwing punched his friend on the arm,

"That's for the grin you've got going." He told him before following the girls. Red X frowned behind his mask,

"How can you always tell when I've got that grin on?" he muttered before racing after the rest of his team.

Page Break

"Friend Cyborg! Is it not time to speed to the motorised 'baby' of transport?" Starfire asked her hulking friend, who was currently hunched over a small computer terminal. Beast Boy came running into the room, his belt still in his hands from his rude awakening. He was tired but after seeing the reason for the alert he'd calmed right down, there were somethings that even he didn't joke about. While clipping his belt in place, Beast Boy walked over to Cyborg,

"Come on dude, we've got lives to save man! The bad guys are out of their cells and that's not a good thing for all the people who live down in the city man. Now hurry your mechanical ass up!" he scolded his friend. Starfire blinked in confusion at the serious side of Beast Boy that was now showing. The green teen saw her look and scowled before stalking off to find the T-car. Cyborg sighed as he continued to tap away at the keyboard,

"Don't worry Star; he's just concerned for the people down in the city. Escaped criminals are more dangerous than any other type of criminal." He didn't take his eyes off the screen, his fingers a blur as he typed. Starfire frowned a little,

"What are you using the terminal of computers for Friend Cyborg?" she asked, curiously confused. The robotic teen sighed but his typing never slowed,

"I'm contacting someone who should be able to lend us a hand in dealing with any of the more powerful villains who have escaped." He replied tensely. Starfire was about to ask another question when the door to the main room slid open and Raven glided into the room smoothly, her hood completely up and her face in shadow. Starfire flew across the room to her gothic friend, deciding that she would be easier to talk to than the now secretive robotic hero. Raven held up a delicate hand before the alien princess could even open her mouth,

"Don't speak to me Starfire. I'm just here for some tea." She told her friend before moving over to the kitchen area to boil her water. Starfire floated over to wait beside her gothic friend,

"But Friend Raven, there is no time for tea. An escape of the criminals has occurred in the city!" she pleaded loudly. Raven turned her body slightly so that her back was to the alien,

"If memory serves, Cyborg suggested causing a riot to make the people of the city hate the criminals again and stop hating us for not saving them." she replied, equally as loud so that Cyborg could hear. Cyborg shook his head,

"This isn't my doing Raven. They've taken control of the prison with hostages and have let over a thousand dangerous killers out onto the streets." He informed her without breaking from his typing. Raven scoffed,

"You've been sliding down a slippery slope Cyborg, how do I know that you wouldn't do this?" she asked coldly. Starfire intervened,

"Friend Raven, I am surprised at you! Friend Cyborg has had to make some hard decisions since the death of Friend Robin but he has had the team's best interests at his heart!" she defended her older friend. Raven seethed beneath her hood,

"Don't you DARE use his name to justify yourselves!" she screamed, the repaired windows of Titans Tower shattering once again. Starfire started to float away from Raven when the black aura surrounded her friend and ripped through the air with its black tendrils. Cyborg stopped typing long enough to switch on the giant television, causing news footage of The Outsiders fighting hordes of escaped prisoners,

"I use THAT to justify myself Raven. Our city is in the hands of two 'reformed' villains, a morally challenged ex-Titan and a complete unknown. I will not stand by and let them fight the crime of this city on their own. Who knows when they'll go back to being criminals?" He resumed his typing. Raven shook her head but slowly began to melt into her own shadow,

"Fine, but I'm fighting because I want to help people. Not because you're telling me to." She glared at Cyborg, "You're not my leader."

Page Break

Conner Kent frowned as he held up his small Titans communicator. It was beeping at him and it was rather annoying. His frowned deepened as he thought about the offer that Cyborg had given him.

_We just need to know you'll help us man, so I promise I'll only ever call you once with it. As long as you promise to answer the call._

Conner's frowned deepened even more as he thought, sitting down on the fence of the Kent farm. He flicked the communicator open and a news report about the Jump City prison riots blared to life. With a smirk he crushed the communicator before slowly floating off the ground,

"Accepted, you're freebie's gone Cyborg." He declared before flying off towards Jump City at full speed.


	11. Series One Finale Part Two

Disclaimer:

** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note:**** This chapter damn near killed me and I think it may show towards the end. Please note that I won't be able to update for at least another six days due to a much increased work load. Happy reading. Or not actually.**

Series One Finale – Part Two

Riot

Nightwing grinned as he slammed another criminal's face through the brittle glass of a shop window. The bald man slumped in his grip as he lost his grip on consciousness, his head falling from the hero's fingers to hit the ground with a meaty sound of collision. Nightwing sighed with relief as the last of this particular gang of criminals was finally stopped, just outside the gothic gateway to Jump City Prison, affectionately named 'The Last Jump'. With a grunt he launched himself from his slightly hunched position into a full on sprint, his eyes set on reaching the gate itself. Bullets flew through the air from the nearby prison walls. Nightwing swore but carried on running, the bullets chipping tarmac off the road as they narrowly missed him. With a perfect baseball slide he slipped past the line of fire and into the huge stone and metal gate. He looked up at the haggard looking prison guards, police officers and his team mates. Red X was slumped against a nearby wall, a red gadget currently being toyed with between his fingers. Argent smiled tiredly at Nightwing and Jinx lent against her silver skinned friend. Nightwing smirked,

"Everyone alright then?" he asked with a faked casual attitude. The prison guards and police officers looked at him as if he'd gone mad but the Outsiders just laughed,

"Better than you birdy." Red X bit back with a smirk behind his face mask. Nightwing pushed himself back up to his feet and pointed at Red X, his serious leader attitude back,

"X, I need you to start scouting the east side of the prison. We've been told that their aren't any hostages there but I don't like surprises." He ordered, his voice changing to a commanding tone that broke no argument. Red X saluted, only half mockingly, before disappearing down one of the shadowy corridors that ran off from the gate. He turned to Jinx and Argent and the two girls groaned,

"We've got baby sitting duty?" Jinx half asked, half groaned. Nightwing smirked a little but nodded sternly. Argent sighed,

"Well it's better than trying to keep up with him." She pointed out, giving Nightwing a dirty look. Nightwing smirked again,

"Hey, it's not my fault you two don't believe in training." He commented dryly. Jinx flipped him the bird before trotting over to the tired group of guards and cops. Nightwing was about to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned back, finding Argent holding him back. She smiled, a small and uncertain smile,

"Can we talk for a minute?" she asked, uncharacteristically quiet. Nightwing's leader instincts began to flash. Something was holding Argent back and he needed to sort it out or start preparing for her funeral.

He blinked, taken aback by his own deduction. His instincts were harsh. He shook his head to clear it before smiling down at Argent, his own smile a dazzling mixture of confidence and reassurance,

"Sure Argent, we can go into the booking room if you want." He responded, gesturing at the small room off to one side of the main gate's archway. The silver skinned Goth nodded meekly before leading him into the small room. Nightwing sat down in the leather chair of the booth and spun it round to watch her close the door behind her. Argent took a deep breath,

"Richard… we need to talk about…" her face flushed red, "about us."

Nightwing unclenched his muscles, only now aware that he'd tensed up so much as to pull all of his muscles taunt. The chair's arms groaned as he stopped the pressure he'd applied to them. His small smile finally managed to reapply itself,

"What about us?" he asked, trying not to see that the answer was obvious. Argent's cheeks flushed an even darker red but she slowly moved closer to him. Nightwing's eyes widened as the silver skinned Goth crawled onto his lap and leant down close to his face, her breath playing across his neck,

"I want there to be an… us." She stated simply, reaching down further still to kiss his neck lightly. Nightwing flinched, as if the kiss was burning hot, and managed to wriggle away from Argent until he was standing and she was the one sitting down in the chair. He backed up until his back was against the door,

"Look, Toni… you're probably just acting this way because of the stress of battle and this… this isn't what you want." He tried to convince her. Argent's face scrunched up and Nightwing felt his heart lurch. She chocked back a sob and threw herself at him, her arms wrapping around him in a possessive hug. He stared down at the girl crying into his costume for a minute before wrapping his own arms around her. Argent chuckled through her continued sobbing,

"Good thing you're suit is water proof…" she muttered wetly. Nightwing chuckled a little as well,

"Well I have to say that it wasn't designed to keep tears out." He teased gently. Argent sighed in his arms, apparently liking the feeling of being held by him,

"You love her don't you?" she asked suddenly. Nightwing blinked a few times,

"Who?" he asked quickly, a little too quickly. Argent smiled and nuzzled his chest affectionately,

"Raven… you really love her don't you?" she asked again. He paused for a minute to think about his response. Before his accident the answer would have been a hesitant yes. After the accident it would have been a definitely yes. But after her response at the wake… he didn't know anymore. He'd bared himself, as Richard Grayson no less, and she'd told him that they were just friends. He shook his head slightly,

"I think I do Toni. She… some of her words have cut me deep but…" he felt his eyes beginning to tear up behind his domino mask, "I love her anyway Toni."

Argent squeezed him lightly in the hug,

"So what about me Richard?" she whispered, almost too quiet to hear. Nightwing smiled and squeezed back,

"I've been told I make an excellent brother." He replied lightly. Argent sniffed loudly,

"I think I can live with that. As long as this little sister is allowed to crush on her big brother."

"Didn't Freud say something about that?"

"Not unless you want to have a daughter figure with a crush on you."

"Point taken. Sister with manageable crush on big brother it is then I guess."

* * *

Raven was beyond tired now. She'd been tired an hour ago, when she'd helped the rest of the Titans stop a runaway oil tanker that had been hijacked by one of the escaped convicts. Now, after five hours of constant power use and improvised martial arts at certain points, she was physically and emotionally empty. She was still using her powers, but she was on autopilot. Street lamps exploded from the ground they were supposed to be bolted to and flew across the tarmac to slam into larger groups of convicts who were attempting to swarm her.

Just as the last hundred or so convicts had tried.

She sighed as single man made a run towards her, a crowbar raised high above his head with obviously murderous intent. With an automatic flick of her wrist, Raven's powers had twisted the man's hands around in a complete circle. Both of his wrists broke smoothly and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Raven floated over to the kneeling man and silenced him with a swift kick to the temple. Her eyes flickered slightly and she turned round to find a completely deserted street.

The foes she'd defeated earlier had either been collected by the police or had limped off to lick their wounds. The other Titans were nowhere to be seen, having been pulled back to a medical station set up in the ruined police station on Fifth Street. She'd stayed because she was slowly healing herself anyway, that and she was the one most suited for this kind of fighting. This wasn't the flashy battles with HIVE; this wasn't even the covert duels with Slade. This was dirty, filthy, fighting in the alleyways and the streets. Anything was allowed in a fight like this. The police had started to use heavy machine guns to defend the medical and relief stations on the edges of the city, the National Guard had stopped taking prisoners hours ago and instead began executing anyone who surrendered.

There would be hell to pay for their handling of the situation when everything was normal again. But things weren't normal right now. Hell seemed to have crawled out of the broken prison with the convicts, its tendrils streaming outwards to incite the killing, the raping and the burning. The city was on fire.

Her darker instincts loved it.

For once, two of her most different emotions had come together to support her handling of the situation. Hatred loved the way that she was allowed to sink to any depth as long as she stemmed the tide of human filth running down the street towards her. Justice loved the way that she had given herself up completely and thrown herself into saving the innocent and punishing the wicked with righteous fury and pain.

For a second she glanced to the night sky, the midnight stars tainted orange by the roaring fires of the city's financial district. As coincidence would have it, during that second, a blue and red blur flew through the air above her. Raven allowed herself a small smile as she watched Superboy soar towards the prison, the centre of the problem. The end was coming at last.

Unfortunately, that was true.

* * *

Nightwing stood there in a state of total shock, his re-entrance to the gate was so startling. His fingertips went numb before they started to tingle, not the pleasant tingling of a lover's touch but the painful tingling of many thousands of pin tips being pressed to the skin. His hands shook uncontrollably, shaking fast enough to blur slightly in his tear-clouded vision. With great effort he raised his right hand to his face, his blistering fingertips reaching the lip of his domino mask. He shuddered with effort as he willed his fingers to obey him. The mask fell away and his tears began to slowly roll down his face, their path no longer barred.

Before him the gateway lay in ruins, twisted metal and discarded stone strewn across the ground as if the area had suffered from a massive explosion. Hands, arms and legs jutted out from under rubble while the hips and shoulders they attached to were across the gateway. But his eyes were drawn to a body which seemed to have been laid out in the centre of the hall purposefully.

Nightwing took a few shuddering steps forwards before falling to his knees beside Jinx's corpse, her pink hair resting in a pool of dark red blood. With a choking sob he reached down to rest a hand on her pale face, a look of shock and confusion still etched into her features. He slowly lowered her eyelids with his fingers, careful not to touch the eyes themselves. Falling back slightly his eyes rested upon the gaping red mess of a wound in her chest cavity. A clinical part of his mind informed him that Jinx's heart seemed to be missing from its resting place behind her ribs. Another part of his mind wailed like a madman at the loss of a friend.

His sorrow was cut short however, when another part of mind took control.

All consuming and burning anger blossomed from deep within his chest, spreading through his body to banish all of the weaknesses exposed by his sadness. His fingers became stiff and ready. His fists balled, tightening up muscles all along his arms. And his eyes settled into a heated gaze.

Rage was consuming him, he knew this.

Nightwing pulled himself to his feet and began to walk out of the gate, towards the source of continuous smashing sounds. His blood pounded in his ears and the edge of his vision began to blur, not with tears but with the tunnel vision of pure hatred and anger.

Rage was consuming him, and he didn't care.

The source of the crashing sounds became apparent as he turned the corner into the prison's exercise yard. A teenage boy, no doubt around his own age of seventeen, was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt with a red S emblazoned on its front. But in his hand he held the front of Argent's dress. He was holding said hero off the ground with apparent ease and he was in the process of smashing her back into the concrete of the exercise yard's wall.

This sight would normally have shocked Nightwing, Superboy was beating a fellow hero to death after all, but with rage clouding his mind he only thought of one thing. How could he make Superboy suffer huge amounts of pain before his death?

His new escrima sticks came to mind first and their 'little secret' was perfect for this battle. Flicking said sticks off of his back; Nightwing slid into a battle stance and flicked a switch on the baton-like sticks. Both weapons began to glow with an eerie green light and Superboy stopped moving suddenly. The Kryptonian slowly turned to regard the glowing sticks with wide eyes. Nightwing growled,

"Put Argent down. Right. Now." He ordered sharply, his grip tightening on his two weapons. Superboy complied, dropping Argent to the ground where she lay in a heap. Nightwing narrowed his unrestricted eyes, "What the hell have you done Conner?"

Superboy's eyes flashed a light green,

"I am to punish those who do not follow the law." He replied, his voice twinned with a mechanic voice, "It is my mission to rid this country of all law-breakers. Their punishment is always death."

Nightwing gritted his teeth so hard that he began to feel that he was causing himself a headache,

"I'm going to beat the crap out of you, no matter how you justify your actions." He seethed, slowly beginning to circle his opponent. Superboy shrugged,

"You will try, but you are an inferior hero. You have no powers or special talents." He replied in the same duel voice. Nightwing smirked lightly, twirling his escrima sticks,

"We'll see how inferior I am when I'm standing over your broken body."

"You humans are all so delusional."

**Le Gasp! What's this? **

**Superboy has turned evil! Most uncool!**

**Will Nightwing and his glowing sticks (If you don't know what the glow is then my hinting is getting weaker by the day) beat the Kryptonian powerhouse?**

**Or will our hero be destroyed due to his lack of powers?**

**How will Raven help Robin now that he's in a duel to the death with one of the universe's most powerful beings?**

**And where the hell are Red X, Batgirl and Supergirl?**

**The answers to all these questions, and a badass fight scene, will be seen in the next chapter, **

**Series One Finale, Part Three – Dedicated**


	12. Series One Finale Part Three

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note(s);**

**1) I'm back baby!**

**2) Would it kill you anon reviewers to login so I could reply to you? ;)**

**3) Part Three of the first finale is finally finished (trying saying that really quickly)! Obviously as you're reading this :P**

**4) The title for this chapter was inspired by the Nine Inch Nails song, Sin.**

**5) A huge thank-you to Renee430 for giving me help with title ideas from more songs (thank her for the title to part one of the finale).**

**6) Also, thank-you to Main Source of Annoyance and the two anon reviewers who have also reviewed chapter 11. Your continued support in a constant encouragement for me and the notices for your reviews are the highlights of my daily e-mail inbox checks.**

**7) There are lots of notes here :P**

**8) This chapter is probably ****the longest one I've ever written for this fic actually.**

**9) I warned you. This entire thing is basically an elongated fight scene.**

* * *

Series One Finale – Part Three

Sin

Nightwing and Superboy circled each other, the human with caution and the Kryptonian with an unmistakable air of confidence. The glowing sticks hummed gently and Nightwing took several deep breaths, purging himself of the overwhelming anger that would cloud his judgement during the up coming battle. Superboy tilted his head to the side slightly as they continued to circle each other,

"You seem cautiously optimistic about your chances of survival." He commented casually, stepping over the unmoving body of Argent to continue circling. Nightwing shuddered with rage at the sight of his new foe casually walking over one of his friends when they were so obviously dying. He took another breath, calming himself,

"You seem over-confident Conner." He replied with a growl. Superboy frowned a little, a frown of casual confusion,

"On an unrelated matter… you seem to have lost your mask." He commented coolly. Nightwing made the mistake of raising one of his hands to check his face. While Superboy was right, the mask was gone, it was obviously a diversion. The Kryptonian flew across the exercise like a bullet, racing towards the distracted human hero. Nightwing smirked when Superboy pulled up short to throw a punch towards his chest, a path blocked by one of the escrima sticks. As soon as the Kryptonian's knuckles made contact with the glowing metal stick his face contorted in agony and a loud cracking sound resounded throughout the open space of the exercise yard. Superboy flinched away from the glowing stick, feeling the pain ease away to a dull ache as he pulled away from the weapon. Nightwing grinned savagely at the look of confusion on Superboy's face before slamming his right stick into the other teen's stomach. The Kryptonian doubled over in pain and backed away again, staggering instead of walking. Nightwing spat at the floor,

"How does it feel Conner?" he asked, smacking the other teen in his down turned face with his left stick. Superboy howled in pain and staggered sideways in pain. With another growl of rage, Nightwing punched his right stick back into the other boy's chest, "How does it feel to be powerless to stop me Conner? I know! How about you ask Jinx?"

With all of his considerable strength, Nightwing hit Superboy across the chest with his right escrima stick. The Kryptonian screamed in agony again and fell to his knees, clutching at his now broken ribs. Nightwing took another deep breath before cracking his left stick over the back of Superboy's head, causing the super-powered teen to collapse on the floor in pain,

"Oh… that's right. You can't ask Jinx. Because you killed her!" he roared, kicking the weakened teen in the side of his chest. Continued short term doses of green kryptonite had weakened Superboy's chest enough that Nightwing's kick was strong enough to be felt as if he was a normal human. The Kryptonian roared in pain again before quickly rolling away from the angry hero. Nightwing sighed as he watched Superboy roll and scrambled his way to his feet across the yard from him. He shook his head,

"Distance won't help you Conner. It'll help me though." He rubbed his eyes tiredly with his left hand, aware that Superboy was too shocked and pained to use the chance to attack, "I don't want to kill you Conner. I just don't want you to hurt Argent or anyone else anymore."

Superboy narrowed his eyes,

"The best way to ensure that I don't is to kill me." He spat, his eyes flashing pale green again. Nightwing pointed one of his escrima sticks at his opponent,

"Exactly. I know it's the only sure way but…" he sighed again, shaking his head slightly as he thought back to his days with Batman. Superboy snorted,

"You're too weak to go through with it." he concluded firmly. Nightwing glared at him, his blue eyes blazing with hatred,

"Don't you ever call him weak!" he spat out venomously. Superboy raised an eyebrow,

"Who? I was talking about you." He told his opponent carefully. Nightwing blinked a few times before shaking his head,

"It doesn't matter. In a few minutes you'll either be gone or in chains." He smirked a little, twirling his escrima sticks, "You don't sound so confident now."

"Just because you can hurt me doesn't mean you can win!" Superboy shot back with a heated glare of his own. Unfortunately for Nightwing, the heat in the glare was literal. He swore as Superboy's heat vision hit his left escrima stick out of his hand and somersaulted backwards to avoid losing his only remaining weapon against the Kryptonian. Superboy sneered, "'You don't sound so confident now'."

Nightwing shrugged slightly,

"You won't win this fight by using my own taunts against me." He spat back with a quick shake of his head. Superboy roared in anger as he shot forwards across the exercise yard again, all of his super speed forcing his legs into a dead run. Nightwing gritted his teeth and fell to one knee at the last second; his only remaining escrima stick pointed upwards and held with both hands.

Conner, unable to stop himself with all of his momentum, felt the end of the escrima stick poke into his stomach and he was immediately filling with agony again. Nightwing gritted his teeth and used all of Conner's earlier momentum to fling the Kryptonian over his shoulder, where the super powered teen crashed into the ground heavily. He stood and turned to look at his downed opponent,

"You know…" he pressed a small button on the escrima stick and the tip of the stick slid open. A shining, green, gemstone was slowly raised out of the tip of the stick. It was rounded but savagely pointed, obviously having only one purpose. As soon as the green kryptonite was raised beyond the protective layers of the escrima stick, Conner began to writhe around on his back. The pain had intensified tenfold for the Kryptonian and Nightwing almost felt sorry for the pain he was causing. Almost being the operative word. Nightwing held the escrima stick as if it were poisonous to himself as well as Conner, "I could stab this through your heart and kill you. Right now."

Conner was still writhing around in pain but his eyes flashed pale green once again and he began to pull his voice back from screams of pain,

"Do it…! Prove me right! The… the only way to stop… a killer… is to kill!" he declared against the pain. Nightwing scowled,

"I never said that I would actually kill you Conner." He told his foe before pushing the button on the escrima stick again. When the kryptonite point was once again inside the stick Conner fell limp on the ground and closed his eyes, his breathing also coming to a complete stop. Nightwing frowned before he heard a familiar voice,

"R-Richard…! How… how could you kill them?" Raven asked, having just arrived on the scene with Red X, Batgirl and Supergirl. Kara was panting and leaning on Batgirl for support. Batgirl herself was looking at him with hurt registering on the parts of her face that he could see. Red X had his mask on but Nightwing knew that his mouth was most likely hanging open in disbelief. He was cradling Jinx's body in his arms. This was a powerful image in its own right but what made Nightwing's knees go weak were the tears in Raven's eyes as she stared down at him. His eyes widened and he looked back down to Conner, who was doing a good job of faking death, then to the escrima stick in his hand and then to Raven. He threw the escrima stick away from himself instantly,

"Raven! It-it's not what it looks like!" he tried to defend himself, already knowing from the hurt in her eyes that he was fighting a losing battle. The crying Goth shook her head, anger coming out now rather than sadness,

"Well it looks like you've killed Jinx, Superboy and you've tried the same thing with Argent!" she threw back, gesturing around the exercise yard with a hand. Nightwing shook his head furiously, his own tears forming as he felt Raven slipping more and more away from him with each tear she shed for 'his' actions,

"No! Raven, I would never do anything like that!" he pleaded, looking to Batgirl and Red X to back him up on the issue. Batgirl looked away from him, ashamed if he'd had to guess. Red X nodded slowly,

"I believe you Richard." He replied softly. Nightwing smiled gratefully at his friend before turning back to Raven,

"Raven I-"

"Conner!" she gasped, looking over Nightwing's shoulder. His muscles tensed and he spun round as fast as he could. It wasn't fast enough.

Nightwing cried out in pain as Superboy's foot connected squarely with his chest, propelling him across the exercise yard with such power that when he crashed into the wall of the nearest building it cracked with the impact. Nightwing himself screamed in pain as several of his ribs broke from the savage impact. There was no relief however, as a newly rejuvenated Superboy flew at him with unparallel Kryptonian speed. With this huge speed behind him, Superboy easily slammed both himself and Nightwing through the outer wall of the building and through several interior walls made of softer plaster. Fortunately for Nightwing though, upon their passage through a strange heating room Conner slammed his own head into a thick metal pipe during their flight. This unexpected interruption to their flight caused both men to spin through the air, separating when they collided with another pipe in the confusion.

Nightwing was flung away from his 'flight buddy' and straight into another wall. This wall was made from brick though so he merely slid down it instead of continuing straight through it. He slid bonelessly to the floor and focused on trying to breathe, his ribcage now dangerously constricting his lungs as they crossed over one another in their broken state. He cautiously looked around the heating room to find that the large brick room was now slowly being covered by the steam from the broken pipes, blanketing the room in a thick mist that he was unable to see through. Nightwing slowly began to pull himself to his feet, remembering to thank all available gods for the continued use of his legs. With wide and searching eyes he slowly began to try and slink out of the room.

A large, metal, canister flew past him and broke apart on impact with the brick wall, spilling a clear and four-smelling liquid across the floor around the impact point of the canister. Without warning, another canister burst open as it hit the wall over Nightwing's head, raining the mystery liquid down on top of him. It was only then that he recognised the acidic smell of a petroleum based fuel. His eyes widened and a laugh resounded throughout the small room as another canister burst a few feet from him,

"Amazingly enough the prison staff were stupid enough to have a Kerosene fuelled heating system still in this wreck of a building!" Superboy declared from somewhere within the mist. Nightwing swore and broke out into a flat sprint as he found an exit that lead him into a long corridor with wooden floorboards. The laugh resounded again, "Keep running Richard! It's time to light this place up!"

As Nightwing looked back over his shoulder he saw Superboy standing in the exit, a trolley full of kerosene canisters loaded onto the metal bed. The Kryptonian hefted one of the cans before throwing it through the corridor at Nightwing. A few feet from the hero, Superboy shot the can with a blast from his heat vision. The can exploded outwards, tongues of liquid fire firing out in dozens of directions. Nightwing didn't care where the fire was going to land, he was already running again. His ribs creaked again and he stumbled in his steps from the pain. It was enough of a distraction.

A canister exploded a few feet away from Nightwing's back, dosing the hero's back in burning fuel. Nightwing cried out in pain before falling to the floor on his back, ignoring his ribs, before rolling around on the floor to smoother the flames on his back. As soon as the flames were extinguished he rolled back to his feet, once again trying valiantly to ignore the pain in his ribs. He lurched back into a run just in time to avoid another canister exploding even closer to him. The heat from the newly created fire blew against his back and Nightwing sighed in the back of his mind, at least now his back had a breeze.

Another lick of flame came shooting towards him from his right, causing him to roll to the left to avoid having his face burnt severely. The roll took him through a wooden door, weakened by the flames licking at it from beneath. He slowly pulled himself back to his feet, his breathing coming in short bursts as he ribs throbbed in agony with each heartbeat. He looked around the room he'd found himself in and his eyes widened. He was in a computer control room, if the camera monitor screens were anything to go by, and two people were tied together with rope. Nightwing swore and quickly dropped to their side, noting that both of the hostages were still alive, but had most likely blacked out due to the dense black smoke that now hung in the air. A creaking sound above made him look up at the ceiling above the hostages and himself.

There was a heavy looking depression in the ceiling that seemed to be growing in size with each creak from the ceiling itself. Realising that the depression was most likely debris from the higher levels that had begun collapsing from the burning of the lowest floor, Nightwing acted on instinct when the ceiling seemed to tear open like paper and huge amounts of plaster, wood and concrete began to fall towards the unconscious hostages. With a grunt he positioned himself over the hostages, just in time to catch the massive load of rubble on his upper back and shoulders. He grunted in pain and exertion as he felt his legs begin to tremble from the weight of the load he was holding up. Just as he was beginning to tire, Superboy walked through the door. Nightwing sighed in relief and gestured down at the two hostages with his head as he tried to hold on to the rubble for a little while longer,

"Conner! You have to get the two hostages to safety!" he called to his opponent. The Kryptonian nodded grimly before pulling both people out from under Nightwing's protection, propping them up against the door frame. Nightwing nodded and let out another, strained, grunt, "Alright, now take some of this load from me and we'll get those two out of here!"

Despite Nightwing's added volume, Superboy didn't move at all. Nightwing blinked and opened his mouth to repeat himself when Superboy held up a hand as a signal for him to stop,

"I'll take these two away from here Nightwing." He declared firmly, his eyes flashing green yet again, "I see now that you are a true hero to risk your life so selfishly for these two helpless humans."

Nightwing felt the rubble he was holding up shift as more concrete and other debris filtered down on top of his already heavy pile. He smiled wearily up at Superboy,

"Any chance that you could give me a hand with this then?" he teased with a playful smirk. Superboy shrugged,

"You'll serve the world better as a never dying symbol of heroism." He replied emotionlessly. Nightwing's smirk slowly faded to a frown,

"What are you talking about Conner? How can I be a symbol of heroism if you won't help me get this stuff off my back?" he asked, again trying to bring back the joking air of the discussion. Superboy's ice cold seriousness broke through Nightwing's half hearted attempt at a joke. The Kryptonian took a step closer to him,

"By dying…" he kicked out, sweeping Nightwing's legs out from under him, "As a true hero."

* * *

**Le Gasp!**

**An update and a death in the story!**

**Next chapter will be coming soon;**

**Season One Finale, Part Four - Hurricane**


	13. Series One Finale Part Four

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note:**** Actually this chapter will be the longest I've written for this story I believe :D **

**Thank-you to;**

**Renee430**

**Biting Bullets**

**Prowlersgirl**

**Main Source of Annoyance**

**For reviewing the last chapter! I love you guys! Keep up the good work ;)**

* * *

Series One Finale – Part Four

Hurricane

Nightwing fell in slow motion, everything seemingly going at half speed in a show of respect for the soon to be deceased hero. With this melancholy thought he gritted his teeth and managed to pull his arms up, bringing them in front of his chest as he fell. The world suddenly lurched back into full speed, as if sensing that he was battling to cheat it out of its new prize. Despite the renewed speed of the fall, Nightwing landed on his forearms. The rubble stopped suddenly falling, now totally supported by Nightwing's back as he held his body off the ground by only his arms. Superboy had turned to leave after his kick but now looked down at Nightwing, frowning slightly,

"Your strength is commendable. I had not thought it possible for a human to be able to perform such a feat of strength in such a state as you." He tilted his head to the side slightly, "I feel a need to add to the danger levels."

Nightwing wasn't paying attention to Superboy's words however; he was focusing his entire being on his shaking arms, willing them to hold. When they stopped shaking he risked a look up at his foe. His eyes widened when the Kryptonian gently placed a Kerosene canister beside his head. Superboy shrugged,

"Perhaps you will have more difficulty trying not to be crushed when you're on fire." He mused aloud. Nightwing's mind raced as he fought to keep calm enough to think of a plan and not to simply panic blindly. Quickly he seized on the only idea that seemed to have any chance of succeeding. He glared back up at Superboy and spat at the Kryptonian,

"You won't have the satisfaction of knowing that you killed me." He vowed before pulling his arms out from under himself, moving to curl up into a ball with his arms protecting his head.

Superboy's eyes widened slightly as he watched Nightwing disappear under the rubble, which was now completely unchecked. He shook his head with another frown before blasting the canister apart with his heat vision anyway, setting the rubble pile of fire and causing noxious gasses to start to seep through the cracks in the rubble pile towards Nightwing. Superboy sighed,

"I know you've not been crushed Nightwing. I have x-ray vision after all." He reminded the hero, who he could see curled up in a perfected ball against all of the rubble. Nightwing felt the panic begin to start setting in again as he began to smell the acidic smoke from the burning Kerosene. Superboy watched the hero begin to slowly trying and move some of the rubble away, trying not to cause a lethal cave-in. The Kryptonian shrugged and picked up one of the unconscious hostages in each hand before simply walking out of the room, already rehearsing what he was going to say to explain Nightwing's death to his team mates and the other heroes.

Back under the rubble however, Nightwing wasn't panicking or even trying to move any of the rubble. He was listening intently for Superboy's footsteps to fade away. When the footfalls did, eventually, fade away entirely he breathed a short sigh of relief before pointing his right arm out. He closed his eyes and focused on his memories about his position in the room. He quickly adjusted his position so that his right hand was now pointing to the east, the other side of the room from the door. That way if he got out that way he wouldn't announce his presence to Conner and have to start fighting immediately after escaping from a crushing and suffocating nightmare.

He took a couple of seconds to take a firm hold of his plan in his mind, very aware that the smoke from the Kerosene was already making him feel light-headed. Shaking his head, he reached out with his left hand. The left limb moved sluggishly, seemingly weighing twice as much as before his imprisonment under several hundred pounds of rubble. He eventually managed to touch his right gauntlet with his left hand. Fumbling a little with his fingers he finally managed to find the button he was looking for. He pressed the button with all the strength his weakened body could manage.

Immediately a high tension cable shot out from the side of his right gauntlet, rushing straight through the layers of rubble and out into the room beyond it. Nightwing felt his eyes closing slowly and fiercely fought to keep his eyes open. A slight tug on his right wrist was all the warning he received before the gauntlet activated. The cable was pulled taunt as the gauntlet sought to retract it at an equally high speed as its ejection. The result was that the gauntlet was pulled towards the cable end at a worryingly high speed, pulling a battered Nightwing with it.

He closed his eyes against the dust as he was pulled through the rubble at such a high speed that even the small pieces of rubble he was pulled through hurt like hell as they broke apart against his body. The pain intensified as he was pulled through a large slab of plastered wall that had fallen down. His entire upper body began to sting in pain to begin with before the pain dulled completely, leaving him with only dull aches when he collided with some of the rubble.

Suddenly he was through the rubble.

His euphoria at being free from the death trap was short lived, however, when he found himself being dragged across the clear floor at an even higher speed. He opened his eyes to see his trajectory and swore before shutting his eyes tight again. Nightwing smashed into the back of computer monitors with enough force to break said screens and cause sparks to flying all over the place. The gauntlet stopped pulling and the cable, buried in the wall a few feet above his head, fell down to be drawn back into the gauntlet at a more sensible pace.

The gauntlet clicked to signify that the cable was inside again and Nightwing collapsed backwards onto the desk for the monitors. He closed his eyes and smiled slightly at his narrow escape. Unfortunately for him, he forgot his earlier caution concerning closing his eyes in the bliss of living. His head slumped backwards and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

* * *

"_Get up Robin."_

_Robin's eyes shot open immediately and he rolled off of the desk, grumbling as he landed on his backside. He looked up and saw his mentor, Batman, standing over him. The grim frown of disapproval was etched into his features. Robin frowned, confused,_

"_But I am up Batman…" he replied hesitantly. Batman shook his head,_

"_What is the first thing you instinctively want to do when you've ingested a large amount of toxic gas Robin?" he asked his partner. Robin thought for a moment,_

"_You want to close your eyes." He replied quietly, seeing where Batman was going with this conversation. Batman nodded gravely,_

"_You've made the grave mistake of falling asleep after pulling yourself away from the fumes of a burning hydrocarbon." He noted dryly. Robin looked away from his mentor, suddenly ashamed. Batman picked up on the change in attitude, "What's the matter Robin?"_

_Robin closed his eyes and took a steadying breath,_

"_I don't think I'm worthy of your help at the moment Bruce…" he muttered, dropping the titles. Bruce reached up and slid his cowl back to expose the rest of his face,_

"_Why not Richard?" he asked, concern evident in his eyes. Richard bit down on his lower lip before sighing,_

"_Because… I almost broke the one rule we both swore to keep." He declared quickly, afraid of the judgement he was expecting. He shut his eyes tight as he felt Bruce move closer. He was surprised when Bruce merely rested his hands on his shoulders. Robin opened his eyes again to look up at the small smile that Bruce was wearing,_

"_No matter what you do Richard… I will be proud of you." He took a deep breath of his own, "You are my son Richard and I am proud of you. You chose not to kill Conner when even I would probably have broken our rule to keep my loved ones safe. Richard… I don't want you to die here Richard."_

_Richard felt his eyes tear up as the older man expressed his love for him so clearly and so vocally. He sniffed a little and fixed his father with a determined expression,_

"_I won't die here Bruce."_

* * *

Nightwing opened his eyes and rolled himself off the top of desk with renewed energy and determination. His body protested violently, his breathing was stopped abruptly as some of his ribs twisted against his lungs and drove the air from them in one movement. He wheezed in a few breaths before he began to look around him.

He was away from the rubble but the one down side of being on this side of the rubble pile was that there wasn't an exit on this side of the room. His determined gaze searched the room with expert precision but there really didn't seem to be any way out of this side of the room, having the rubble boxing him in completely. Looking down at his gauntlet he contemplated using the grapple to force his way through to the other side of the rubble but then he remembered the canister that had exploded on that side of the room. Fire was probably already working its way through the rubble over to his side of the room.

His eyes widened slightly as he calmed mind caught onto an idea.

The exploding canisters had lit the entire corridor aflame and each door off from the corridor would also have been set on fire. This fire would then have spread to the rooms beyond the doors. Said fire would lick at the furniture, the floor and the walls. With the same determination and energy as before, Nightwing walked over to the nearest wall and placed his hand on the white plaster of the wall.

Warm to the touch.

With a grin he walked back over to ruined computer desks, very aware of the thick cloud of black smoke which was billowing out from the rubble. He knelt down briefly before pulling one of the computers out from its cupboard under the desk. Ripping the wires out of the back of it he picked the computer up, wincing in pain as his entire upper body screamed out in protest. Ignoring the pain, Nightwing hefted the computer above his head before throwing the metal box at the wall with all of his strength.

Normally the wall would have been strong enough for the computer to simply bounce off it but the fire licking at it from the other side had significantly weakened the wall. The metal computer travelled straight through the wall, breaking a gaping hole into the other room. Immediately, the room's ceiling began to creak with strain as one of its supporting walls lost all of its support.

With the same energy and determination which had woken him from his smoke-induced sleep, Nightwing let out a challenging roar before breaking out into a sprint. As he ran through the room he was acutely aware of the ceiling caving in not a foot from the backs of his feet. Splinters and plaster dust cascaded down on him and urged him to increase his pace, despite his aching and broken body. The burning door was suddenly visible through the smoke and Nightwing didn't break step as he charged through the burning wood. Taking a second to gather his bearings he looked down the corridor to see something that almost made him cry for joy.

A fire exit.

Nightwing was so happy with this discovery that when he began to run up the flight of stairs to the fire exit he didn't notice the cracks appearing in the ceiling just before the exit until the ceiling caved in and rubble fell from the ceiling and through the stairs. Unable to stop himself now, due to momentum, he ran straight until he fell through the hole in the stairs. He screamed as he fell to the floor bellow him, landing on top of the pile of rubble heavily. His neck snapped back on impact with the rubble and he felt his vision going black for the second time in such a short period of time.

* * *

"_Richard…"_

_Richard slowly opened his eyes, now aware that he was lying on his back and felt comfortable despite the fact that he was lying atop a pile of rubble. He looked to his left and saw why he was feeling comfortable. Raven was lying down beside him, her lithe frame clinging to his side. He smiled lazily at her,_

"_Hey Rae…" he replied sleepily. Raven's concerned frown deepened but she pulled herself closer to him none the less,_

"_Don't 'hey Rae' me…" she protested lightly. Richard raised a hand and began to run his fingers through her violet hair gently,_

"_Don't get mad Rae… you look cute when you're frowning." He told her with an easy smile. Raven's frown deepened,_

"_But you can't just lie there and watch me frown Richard…" she replied, clinging to his side comfortably. Richard chuckled,_

"_Oh really? Why not?" he asked teasingly, only half joking. Raven sighed,_

"_We can be together Richard… forever. All you have to do is lie there for a few moments more." She told him sadly. Richard blinked a few times before he picked up on the meaning behind her words,_

"_I'm dying." He muttered. Raven nodded sadly,_

"_You are dying Richard. But you've lived a good life… and I'll be your heaven." She said sweetly, smiling for the first time in the conversation. Richard looked away from Raven, lying his head back as he thought about how he felt about dying. Of course, the prospect of heaven with Raven was tempting and the absence of any pain was sheer bliss when compared to his memories of dashing through the fire and falling rubble. He sighed,_

"_I promised Bruce that I wouldn't die here Raven…" he replied quietly. Raven nestled closer to him,_

"_You did." She turned his face to make him look deep into her violet eyes, "Is heaven worth lying to the man who raised you as a son?"_

_Richard swallowed hard, staring deep into her eyes,_

"_Yes…"_

"_Is heaven worth leaving your friends without you?"_

"_Yes…"_

"_Is heaven worth leaving the woman you love with the man she loves?"_

_Richard stopped when he went to open his mouth. As her word sunk in his brain kicked back in again and he explored his feelings regarding this question before answering,_

"_No." he replied solemnly. Raven's eyes sparkled and she smiled a little more,_

"_You realise it now don't you? Love is a selfish thing at times…" she reached forwards and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "But it means you'll never hurt the one person you love."_

_

* * *

_

Nightwing's eyes opened against his will and he immediately tried to close them again, tears now slowly trickling out of the sides of his eyes. The pain had returned in spades but it wasn't the physical pain that cause the salty tears to spring forth. It was the realisation that he had just chosen to come back. To come back to the pain, the tears, the Raven who was ignorant to his survival and the deaths. He screwed his eyes closed tightly and let out one sob, his ribs crying out in protest as he did so.

He slowly pulled himself up to his feet, wiping the tears from his eyes with gritted teeth and a steely glint in his eye. Quickly he noticed the window in the room and he limped over to it slowly. Looking through the window he saw that he was in a first floor room overlooking the exercise yard, where he could clearly see Superboy comforting a distraught Raven, Batgirl and Supergirl hugging each other for comfort and Red X simply staring off into space, his face mask gone.

Rage boiled up inside him, filling his veins like the fire that surrounded this room. The man who'd left him here to die, after trying to kill him personally, was filling his friends' hearts with lies about him and his 'death'. He felt his left hand slowly drift to pouch on his utility belt. He closed his hand around the pouch and rested his forehead against the warm glass of the window.

With the contents of the pouch he could defeat Superboy, he was confident of that, but he also knew the dangers of using the object. And the dangers were numerous and heavy. He sighed and opened the pouch. His left hand slid into the pouch to remove a dark green ring. Looking down at the ring he was once again amazed that it was the source of such amazing powers. He took one last look outside before slipping the ring onto his finger.

Instantly something washed through his body, something that left him feeling incredibly warm and reinvigorated. The energy surged through his veins, pushing the anger from his system and causing his muscles to tense. The power gripped him in its intoxicating feeling and he opened his eyes wide, the blue shining brighter than ever before. He gritted his teeth in a scowl, ripping the remains of his upper body suit off. His bruised, bleeding and otherwise broken torso was exposed completely but he couldn't feel the gentle heat of the now distant fire or the contrasting coolness of the night time air outside.

With barely a thought he brought his left arm up, casually smashing the window into a thousand tiny pieces. All of the people bellow looked up in shock at the window. He growled a little, crouching down in the window frame,

"Surprised Conner?" he roared down at the thoroughly confused Kryptonian. Nightwing's growl grew in volume until even his distant friends could hear the guttural sound across the exercise yard, "You left me to die you bastard!"

Superboy pushed Raven away from him, roughly, and took a few steps closer to the burning building,

"How did you survive that?" he demanded angrily, shocking the assembled heroes with his sudden attitude change. Nightwing jumped from the window, landing gracefully on the ground without even a murmur of pain escaping him. Calmly, he raised his left hand to show the dark green ring glowing,

"This is my trump card Conner. X-Kryptonite." He declared loudly. Supergirl gasped,

"I know what that is!" she managed to gasp out. Superboy turned to her quickly,

"What does it do?" he demanded fiercely. Nightwing disappeared from view with an amazing display of speed, reappearing behind Superboy. He leaned in to whisper in the Kryptonian's ear,

"It gives a human the powers of a Kryptonian." He whispered gently into Superboy's ear before punching him in the back with a super powered punch. Superboy went flying, bouncing off the concrete yard as he did so. Nightwing growled again, "Now let's see who leaves who for dead!"

* * *

**Le Gasp!**____

**A quick update!**

**So yeah, using a little used form of Kryptonite here, X-Kryptonite. It was created by Supergirl when she was searching for a cure to green Kryptonite. It was then found to give her cat the powers of a Kryptonian and all sources tell me that there is absolutely no reason why this couldn't happen to a human. And we all know Batman has several types of Kryptonite, so why can't Nightwing?**

**Next chapter;**

**Series One Finale, Part Five – Mann Gegen Mann **

**(Title means "Man against man" in German. Is a Rammstein song.)**


	14. Series One Finale Part Five

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics. Speeches made to Richard are basically lifted from Bleach so they're not mine. I just edited them.**

**Note:**** I will take this opportunity to answer the reviews for the last chapter, cus I'm just nice like that :P**

**Renee430 – No, Streaky will not be included. And unfortunately I wasn't able to reference him like I said I would. Sorry about that :D**

**WhimsicalInTheBrainPan – Strange name and you've set your preferences so that I can't pm my response to your review! Hence answering in this format. Why didn't he use it escape from the rubble? Because it is canon that Nightwing can hold up rubble with just human strength and it added drama. Why not when he was escaping? I'm going to go with smoke from the fires clouding his judgement and knowing that it wouldn't actually make him hurt any less. ****Why didn't he use it instead of the Kryto-sticks? That is illustrated in this chapter very well. Namely because when Superboy hits a stick it doesn't hurt Nightwing. And he needed the two near-death visions to prove to him that it was worth the risk to fight Superboy toe-to-toe with the ring. Hope that answers your review well enough for your liking :D**

**Main Source of Annoyance – Indeed! I did try and make his near-death experience with Raven's spirit thingy seem like he was giving up something huge.**

**Ganonfan – No! Hulk does not smash! This is purely DC only. But seriously, no. I will never stop using cliff-hangers! You love me for it really… ;)**

**Hope you guys (and more) read, love and review this chapter!**

* * *

Series One Finale – Part Five

Mann Gegen Mann

Nightwing rolled his shoulders casually as Superboy struggled to his feet across the exercise yard from him. The energy was running through him again, making him almost shake with the effort of keeping all of it inside. He began to bounce on the spot lightly as Superboy finally turned to face him,

"You think you can beat me just because you've got a fancy ring?" he roared at Nightwing before launching himself across the yard at him. Nightwing almost shouted out in joy when he moved, the energy forcing him along at speeds normally impossible for regular humans. Superboy's outstretched fist came hurtling towards him, followed closely by the rest of his Kryptonian body. Nightwing quickly lowered himself to the right, causing the fist to sail harmlessly past his cheek. Superboy's eyes widened and Nightwing face split into an insane grin, the energy within him surging forwards with him. In one smooth motion, Nightwing grabbed hold of Superboy's chest and slammed him into the concrete of the exercise yard. The Kryptonian let out a gargled cry as blood flew from his mouth at the impact. A crater formed instantly and Nightwing slammed Superboy's beefy frame into it once again, causing the depression to deepen dramatically. Nightwing smirked as he let go of Conner's shirt,

"You're pathetic Conner. You rely entirely on your powers, leaving yourself wide open for someone who's trained themselves!" he illustrated his point by kicking Superboy savagely in the ribs as he tried to pull himself up to his feet. The Kryptonian was sent flying again, smashing into the ground a few feet from the crater in a groaning heap. Nightwing casually began to walk up out of the crater, "I've had training in over two hundred forms of unarmed combat Conner. You've just always acted on instinct and your incredible powers."

Superboy finally managed to shakily pull himself to his feet and glare at Nightwing as he gasped for breath,

"You won't beat me! You're only human!" he roared, his heat vision shooting towards Nightwing with frightening speed. Nightwing's eyes widened and he twisted to the right to avoid the twin beams of deadly heat. His enhanced speed was not enough however, as one of the beams grazed his left arm, burning a line into side of the flesh. Pain lanced through his body for the first time since he'd put the ring on and it opened the floodgates. His ribs began to ache and creak in agony again and his entire body stiffened as his earlier pain returned in one dose. Nightwing staggered backwards, much to the amazement of Superboy and the other assembled heroes. Superboy was quick to capitalise however, racing over to his foe with surprising speed. Nightwing's eyes widened when Superboy lifted him off the ground by his utility belt and began to spin on the spot. When they were spinning together at an insane speed, Superboy let go of the belt.

Nightwing's unprotected eyes began to water as he was sent flying up into the air at a very uncomfortable speed. He gritted his teeth as he began to slowly fall from the great height he'd been thrown to. The energy ran through him again, washing the pain away for the second time. The insane grin spread across his face again. With a laugh he spread his arms and legs out wide, coming to a complete stop high up in the air. He slowly lowered his arms to his sides and looked down at the shocked onlookers. The energy surged through him again and he laughed,

"I have all your powers Conner!" he shouted down at the baffled Kryptonian. Superboy shook his head once before taking off towards Nightwing with a roaring challenge. Nightwing shuffled a little in mid-air, bouncing from one foot to the other playfully before shooting down towards Superboy at an even greater speed than his opponent. A strange sound caught his attention and he watched as Superboy froze when he broke the sound barrier. Nightwing gritted his teeth and ploughed into Superboy, wrapping his arms around his waist as he continued to fly directly at the ground, with Superboy's body in front of his own.

Superboy's body broke through the concrete ground with the speed that Nightwing was making them both travel at. They separated when a chunk of concrete dislodged Nightwing and both of them continued to travel through the thick layers of concrete and into the main sewer pipe for the prison. Nightwing panicked a little when he found himself submerged in a strange liquid and quickly rose above it, choking for breath. He quickly looked around the dark and derelict sewer line, trying valiantly to ignore the terrible smell. A dark shape lurched out from the shadows towards him and Nightwing acted on instinct, catching the fist thrown at him with his left hand and punching the man in the stomach with his right fist.

Superboy cried out in pain as another of Nightwing's super-powered punches hammered home into his vulnerable stomach. Nightwing's eyes sparkled when he recognised the figure that had attacked him. Carrying through with the punch, Nightwing lifted Superboy off the floor before throwing him back down into the raw sewage. The teenage Kryptonian pulled his head out of the liquid filth to gasp for breath and Nightwing kicked his head back down into the liquid. Again, Superboy raised his head for breath and Nightwing reached down to hold the other teen's head under the surface. Pulling his opponent's head back before he could drown, Nightwing pulled Superboy's body forwards to slam his face through the edge of the sewer's concrete walkway. Superboy slumped again, his breathing heavy.

Nightwing let go of his opponent's head and took a few steps away from him, his entire body shaking with the need to kill the Kryptonian for the death of Jinx and the pain he'd caused Argent. He closed his eyes tight and tried mightily to pull himself back together. He tried to centre himself on the one simple rule he'd set himself.

He would not kill.

When he opened his eyes again he saw the Superboy was slowly rising to his feet again, this time with a very angry expression and blood running down his face. The Kryptonian roared again, launching himself forwards at Nightwing with the same fury as before. Nightwing acted quickly, falling onto his back and bringing his legs up. Superboy's momentum carried him over Nightwing's lying form and over his two raised feet. Nightwing kicked up with both of his legs as hard as he could, sending Superboy up and out of the sewer through the concrete ceiling. He quickly got to his feet again, wiping the worst of the sewage from his body, before flying out of the sewer through the hole that Superboy's exit had created.

Upon resurfacing from the sewer the first thing he noticed was that Superboy was standing across the yard from him. What was strange was that he was holding a large hosepipe that was attached to the guard house for the exercise yard. Nightwing's eyes widened when a large burst of cold water rushed into him, making him take a step back as the high powered stream assaulted him. He raised a hand to block the water hit his face and gritted his teeth against the low temperature of the water.

He blinked, suddenly realising what Superboy's plan was when he felt the water getting dramatically colder. Acting quickly, he spun out of the water stream as Superboy's freeze breath froze it solid. Luckily, only his right elbow had been inside the jet of water when it had frozen and he easily pulled it free. Superboy dropped the hosepipe wearily and Nightwing took a moment to catch his breath, the energy from before having dwindled significantly. Both opponents looked up at each other with powerful glares,

"G-give in Richard…" Superboy called out across the yard. Nightwing turned his head slightly before spitting,

"Never." He declared venomously before pulling himself back into a fighting stance. Superboy sluggishly raised his own fists. Both teens suddenly lurched forwards, charging towards each other with reckless abandonment. When they were both halfway to each other Nightwing kicked off from the ground just enough to start flying towards Superboy instead of running. Superboy's eyes widened at this unexpected turn of events and his stance lowered slightly with his surprise. Nightwing took full advantage of this distraction, slamming into Superboy with his flight ability working overtime. Both teens flew through the air before they both slammed into the stone wall of the exercise yard, Superboy taking all of the damage on his back.

Blood flew from Superboy's mouth, splashing into Nightwing's exposed eyes more by luck than judgement. With the blood distorting his enemy's vision, Superboy started his own flight ability. The effect was that the two began to roll violently through the outer layer of the wall. Concrete buckled and exploded around the two of them as they pushed and pulled each other into the wall over and over again. As Nightwing was rolled into the wall again, a steel pole from the reinforcing metal mesh of the wall exploded out with the latest batch of concrete, the pointed metal finding little resistance in the hero's side.

Nightwing's eyes widened as the rolling came to a stop, his body held in place the steel pole which now stuck through his left kidney. Superboy pulled lightly in an attempt to start the rolling again but the bar only moved further into Nightwing's body, causing him to cry out in pain but otherwise not gaining a reaction. The Kryptonian slowly moved away from the wall, hovering in the air in front of his opponent with a confused expression. Nightwing gritted his teeth, their normally white surface coloured red with his own blood, and attempted to pull himself off the pole. The pole slid out a little before Nightwing's strength gave out and he fell back towards the wall. Unfortunately his dead weight forced the pole through even more and he screamed in pain as the tip of the pole stuck out through his gut.

Superboy began to chuckle at the sight of his enemy impaled on the wall, rivers of blood pouring from his toned stomach down the rest of his body and into a puddle on the ground bellow. His chuckle grew to a full laugh when Nightwing's screamed cut out and the exhausted hero hung his head,

"Your ring seems to have failed you Richard… no Kryptonian would ever be hurt by such a weak piece of metal." He gloated loudly. Supergirl, frozen in shock with the others, shook her head,

"I-it only gives the… user the powers… not the body of a Kryptonian…" she managed to choke out, her eyes fixed on the point where the pole protruded through Nightwing's stomach. Superboy grinned wide,

"So that's why you were so defensive!" he laughed before lightly poking Nightwing in the side, causing the hero to scream in pain again, "You're body is still only human!"

As Superboy began to slowly descend from his position in the air he heard a slick sound of movement above him. He turned and his eyes widened at what he saw. Nightwing was slowly pushing away from the wall, the pole slowly being pulled from his body. With a grunt of mixed agony and exertion, Nightwing pulled himself completely free of the impaling pole. Unfortunately it was the only thing keeping him in the air and he plummeted the ten feet to the ground, landing painfully on his side. The downed hero began to moan in pain, his throat too sore to scream or shout anymore. Superboy landed gracefully, despite his many injuries, a few feet away,

"You really didn't even get anywhere near killing me Nightwing. You really were too weak. Too weak to kill me." His eyes flashed green, "Too weak to stop me."

Nightwing slowly shuffled on the ground until he was on his hands and knees, panting with the exertion and the extra blood loss it had caused. He raised his head in time to see Superboy turn away and begin to walk.

* * *

Suddenly the colour drained from his vision and Superboy's movements slowed to a halt in mid-step. Nightwing blinked in confusion, noticing that everything else had stopped moving as well, as if time had stopped moving.

Then he appeared.

Walking in the opposite direction to Superboy, his movements crisp and business-like. Although he was dressed entirely in black, he didn't seem to fit in with the black and white world around him, his own black seemingly much darker than any shade of the colour Nightwing could see. The figure stopped, looming over him ominously,

"_You have lost Richard." _Batman muttered in a firm tone. The tone itself caused Nightwing's anger to return, even as he lay dying on the ground,

"It can't be over!" he declared, his voice loud but wavering. Batman looked down at him silently for a moment,

"_Why do you want to fight Richard?" _he asked calmly. Richard blinked in confusion before setting his mind,

"I'm fighting for Raven and my friends!" he declared valiantly. Batman's eyes narrowed and he stared down at Richard with such intensity that it scared the young man,

"_Why do you want to fight Richard?" _he asked again, louder and with an edge to his voice. Richard frowned,

"I just told you!" he cried desperately. Batman scowled,

"_Why do you want to fight?" _Batman roared, his patience at an end, _"Do you fight to live? Do you live to fight?"_

Richard gritted his teeth, his eyes set,

"There's no point in fighting. There's no point in just living…" he threw his head back and roared, "I WANT TO WIN!"

Batman nodded curtly,

"_Then I shall take you there."_

Richard felt everything go black.

* * *

When Richard's vision returned to him he noticed one thing before anything else occurred to him.

He was dressed in his robin costume.

Glancing up he almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed that at the other end of the large warehouse he was standing in, a single chain-gun was set up on a metal tripod. Batman stood behind the machine gun, his eyes cold. Richard looked around at the warehouse for a few seconds before turning to his mentor,

"Where are we? I thought you said you could take me to victory!" he was suddenly angry, so very angry at being taken away from his position of losing a fight. He barely even noticed that he was totally uninjured here. Batman pulled his arm back and flung something at Richard.

Acting out of instinct, Richard leant to the side and caught the object with his right hand. He blinked in confusion as he saw the simple, red, bird-a-rang resting in the palm of his hand. It felt strangely comforting but he looked back up at Batman, who had moved to place his hands on the trigger of the chain-gun,

"You are facing a very fundamental problem Richard…" he pushed a button and the chain-gun's barrels began to spin. Richard's eyes widened and he quickly scrambled away from his earlier position, which was then instantly encompassed in heavy machine gun fire. The gun twirled towards him and Richard ran, he ran until he reached the wall of the warehouse and ran out of distance to put between him and the firing machine gun. Suddenly the fire stopped and Batman took a step back from the weapon,

"_There is nothing but fear reflected in your eyes Richard. When you dodge, you are afraid of being killed. When you attack, you are afraid of killing someone. Even when you try to protect someone, you are afraid of letting them die. Your eyes speak to me of absurd fear. __What's necessary in a fight isn't fear. Nothing can be born of that. When you dodge, "I won't let them kill me." If you protect someone, "I won't let them die." If you attack, "I will kill them." Well, can't you see the resolve to kill you in my eyes Richard?"_

The machine gun suddenly cracked back into life and began to pepper the area around Richard with bullets again. He began to run in a different direction when something inside of him made him stop running.

_Why do you run, Richard?  
Face forward, Richard.  
The enemy is one, you are one.  
What is there to fear?  
Cast off your fear!  
Look forward!  
Go forward!  
Never stand still.  
Retreat and you will age.  
Hesitate and you will die._

_Now attack and defeat your enemy Richard!_

His own mind urged him forward but his instincts were speaking to him, crying out for him to listen to them.

Richard turned to look up at the slowly twirling machine gun, ignoring the path of bullets that was leading straight towards him. His eyes flashed, their deep blue growing lighter for a few seconds. He raised the bird-a-rang,

"When I dodge… I will not die. When I protect… they will not die. And when I attack…" his eyes flashed for an instant as he threw his weapon, "I will kill!"

The chain-gun stopped suddenly.

Batman slowly moved away from the weapon, the bird-a-rang lodged deep in his forhead. He smirked and pulled the weapon out, not a drop of blood to be seen anywhere. He bowed his head slightly,

"Go and win your fight Richard."

* * *

Nightwing gasped a little as the world swam back into focus, the colours returning and time began to flow again. Superboy completed his step and Raven finished her anguished cry. He gritted his teeth, the pain returning. With difficulty he clenched his stomach muscles in the way that Batman had taught him to do when stabbed.

The bleeding slowly died down to a small trickle of blood.

Using his concentration to keep himself from bleeding out, Richard used the first plan that came to mind and began to slam his right fist into the ground as hard as he could. The concrete cracked a little, the sound vibrating off every surface in the exercise yard. Superboy turned at the sound, his eyes wide with shock,

"W-what…? You should be dead already!" he cried, suddenly angry at having his victory snatched away from him. Nightwing ignored him, slamming his fist into the concrete even harder. His knuckles cracked and broke but he ignored the pain, slamming his fist straight through the thin layer of concrete. Superboy started to walk towards him, clenching and unclenching his fist, "You just don't get it do you? You've lost Richard! Face it!"

Nightwing looked up at Superboy, his eyes flashing a lighter blue as he stealed his resolve and gathered all of his determination,

"I will… win!" he roared, pulling the electrical cable out of the ground with his right fist. Superboy's eyes had time to widened and he opened his mouth to gasp. Nightwing flew across the distance between the two of them, dragging the sparking end of the mains electricity cable with him by the protective rubber casing. He landed on top of Superboy, bringing the Kryptonian down onto his back with Nightwing kneeling on his chest. Nightwing gritted his teeth harder against the pain of exertion, "When I attack… I will kill you!"

With that declaration of his resolve, Nightwing punched down with the sparking end of the cable, forcing it into Superboy's open mouth.

The concentrated electricity for the entire block of the prison coursed through the cable and into Superboy's body and Nightwing was only able to keep the contact for a few seconds when Superboy's body buckled and twisted due to the effects of the electricity. He pulled the cable back and Superboy slumped to the ground again, not moving.

Nightwing threw the cable away and shakily pulled himself to his feet, standing over Superboy triuphantly as he let his stomach muscles unclench again. His bleeding began again in ernest as he smiled slightly at the worried faces of his friends, Raven, Red X, Batgirl and Supergirl. He opened his mouth to speak when they all suddenly exclaimed in horror. Nightwing frowned at their change in expression before he felt a gentle heat spread through his chest, originating from two places near the centre of his chest. He looked down sluggishly and froze as he saw the twin beams of heat vision travelling from Superboy's angry eyes and through his chest.

The beams cut out and Nightwing staggered away from Superboy, looking down at his chest in confusion. He couldn't understand it. Why was he hot all over? Why couldn't he breathe?

He looked back up at Raven in confusion before looking over at Superboy, who was slowly picking himself back up. Blinking, Nightwing looked down at the twin holes in his chest. They'd started bleeding now and twin streams of the red liquid ran down his body, joining with the stream coming from his stomach wound. A wet feeling on his lower back told him that the beams had gone straight through him. He looked back up at Raven once again, a small, disbelieving, smile in place as he fell to the ground.

* * *

**Ouch!**

**Sometimes I hate myself… **

**Next chapter is the last part of the Series One Finale folks! Everything comes to a head (for about a week anyway :P)!**

**Next chapter;**

**Series One Finale, Part Six - Broken**


	15. Series One Finale Part Six

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note;**

**1) This is the last official part of this finale but its ending makes it clear, this story is far from finished.**

**2) An epilogue for this series will follow this chapter shortly.**

**3) Tried to address the issue with the other heroes just watching the fight, I know it's not perfect but I'm really tired right now.**

**4) I'm going to sleep now. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

**5) Review and keep on checking this story for the next series.**

**6) Once again, thank you to Renee430 for choosing the title for this chapter.**

* * *

Series One Finale – Part Six

Broken

Was he dead?

Pain was still coursing through his body, aching through his bones and surging through his veins with every beat of his heart.

No, pain was not something a dead man would feel.

But then again, with the sheer amount of pain rushing through his body he was beginning to wonder if death was coming for him fast. He shivered, partly in pain and partly because of the cold that crept up to him and enveloped him in its icy embrace.

His skin itched where the blood was caking and drying to it, crusting into a dark brown at the edges of his wounds while red liquid continued to pour out of him and onto the cold concrete he was lying on. The concrete was rough and cold against his skin, his hot breath condensing on it as he watched with his head resting on the ground by its temple.

Shakily, his left arm raised itself. The hand crawled along the concrete, dragging the dead weight of the arm behind it valiantly. He whimpered lightly as pain lanced down into his chest from the movement, his whimper causing yet more blood to gush from the twin holes in his chest. Finally his left hand came level with his eyes.

Blankly, he stared at his hand.

Its pale skin was caked red with his own blood, still wet and smelling so metallic that it made his eyes water a little. He blinked a few times but he couldn't help the sights past his hand swimming out of focus, his hand now his sole focus. The blood's colour sharpened drastically, now a royal red which draped itself along his long, white, fingers and slid through the groves of his knuckles.

His breath played across his wet skin and his mouth twitched upwards at the corners at the pleasant sensation that it sent to his mind. Breathing in as deep as he could, without raising the pain in his chest too high, he tasted the metallic taste of blood in his mouth before he began to blow his spent air at his hand. Again, the sensation was pleasant and served to effectively distract him from the pain brought on by his three grievous wounds.

Mouth twitching up into a peaceful half smile, he blinked again and the world past his hand came back into focus.

After realising the amount of pain he was in was not healthy he had already begun to suspect that he was dying. And he'd always been told that when you were dying, your whole life flashed before your eyes.

But as he lay dying, all he could see was him.

Batman.

Stood proud and tall against the orange tinged light of the coming dawn, his cape rippling in the early morning breeze despite his entire body being more than slightly see-through. As he blinked a few times in confusion he stumbled across the conclusion with his mind, addled through it was by blood-loss.

It was the spectral Batman, the one who'd given him the strength and willpower to fight back against Superboy when all had seemed lost. The one who'd given him the resolve to fight with intent to kill and still pull away at the last second, the true nature of Batman's one rule.

Never kill.

As he opened his mouth to say something however he noticed a figure further away, behind the spectre of Batman by several yards. This one was small, almost dainty, and white from head to toe. Her skin smooth porcelain, her hair a lush violet and her billowing cape a soft and calming white.

Raven, the woman of his dreams. And it was only now that he realised that she was silently beckoning him towards her with her fingers, playfully. His body shuddered in pain again and he focused on the white Raven. His white Raven.

"Is this all you have to give Richard?" asked Batman, his eyes piecing and hollow. Richard looked away from the spectre's gaze,

"I-I don't know Bruce…" he felt himself begin to tear up but he forced himself to look away from both of the spirits. Batman would have none of it,

"Look at me Richard!" he demanded forcefully. Richard reluctantly turned his head back but refused to look up at Batman, "Is this all you have to give?"

Richard didn't want to answer.

He knew the answer alright, but he didn't want to face the answer.

Batman growled deep from his throat,

"Answer me Richard!" he demanded, once again with the forceful edge to his voice. Richard looked up at his mentor's spectre, his tears now slowly rolling down his cheeks,

"I can give more!" he answered finally, a sob wracking himself in pain as he finished speaking. Batman nodded,

"So why are you just lying there Richard? You have figured out the true meaning of our one rule and yet you aren't even going to give it your all when you fight your enemy. He's still going to hurt people Richard!" he shook his head, "So why don't you fight him?"

Richard closed his eyes tightly,

"Because it hurts…" he muttered, more to himself than to the spectre. However, being a figment of his own mind the spectre could hear him perfectly fine,

"That's all the more reason to take him down Richard." He replied firmly. Richard's eyes flashed dangerously with his earlier resolve to kill,

"Revenge isn't how we operate Bruce!" he shot back angrily. Batman scowled,

"No it's not, but can you honestly say that you think it's right for you to simply lie there when he could cause the same pain to someone else?" he asked quietly. Richard closed his eyes and let his head slump back onto the ground to think. He was still thinking when a voice cut through his visions of death;

"_You'll take me down eventually but I'll take some of you with me… maybe the other bird so I can complete the set!"_

Raven.

Conner was going to hurt Raven.

Richard gritted his blood stained teeth and set his resolve once again.

He would fight Conner.

He would win.

He would defend himself.

He would not die.

He would protect Raven.

She.

Would.

Not.

Die.

* * *

Superboy grinned wide, turning to the assembled heroes as he watched his opponent fall flat on his face and become totally still. He looked first at Red X, smirking at the man's reaction to his friend's death.

Red X was shaking all over, on his knees as he held Jinx's body in his hands. His face mask had long since been discarded and his eyes were obviously fixed entirely on the body of the almost un-uniformed and dying Nightwing. The black and red robin tattoo on his friend's back dripping red all over the bird. After a few seconds, Red X collapsed. He hung his head and buried it in Jinx's neck, hiding his face as he began to cry weakly.

Batgirl was crying into Supergirl's shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably as Kara glared at Superboy with such intensity and hurt that it was a wonder that no heat vision had begun to fly from her eyes. Superboy winked at his relation (sort of) and Supergirl twitched, obviously fighting the urge to fling herself at him while still comforting her friend.

Raven was the most interesting though. Because she wasn't crying, crying or even looking upset in anyway. She was just confused, her shock overriding all of her other emotions. Within the space of about an hour she'd learnt that Nightwing was Richard Grayson and the exposure of his robin tattoo had confirmed to her that Richard Grayson had once been Robin. It was obviously a lot to take it and she wasn't coping well, just standing there with wide eyes and mouth slightly agar. Superboy's grin widened considerably,

"Well now that bird-boy is out of the way I say its time I cleared out the rest of you lawbreakers!" he announced in a mockingly cheerful voice. Supergirl took a quick step towards him, dislodging a distraught Batgirl,

"What right do you have to call us that Conner? You're the one who'd committed murder here!" she challenged loudly, her eyes glowing red with a contained blast of heat vision ready. Superboy glared at her,

"You have all broken the laws of this country by being associates of the criminal known as Nightwing, you will be executed as criminals!" he declared with a flash of green in his eyes. Batgirl slumped to the floor, still sobbing, as Supergirl raised herself into the air slightly. Red X pulled her close to him to let her cry against him, his own tears now exposed to the world as opposed to being hidden by Jinx. Raven's wide eyes moved to watch Superboy as he stomped his right foot on the ground.

A crack appeared in the concrete, spreading from where Superboy's foot impacted on the ground to a forgotten piece of equipment on the other side of the yard. The escrima stick shot up into the air and began to fall between the two Kryptonians. Superboy blasted one end of the stick with his heat vision, causing the deadly green kryptonite stick to go spinning towards Supergirl. Left with no time to react, the deadly weapon hit Supergirl in the stomach, causing her to cry out in intense pain before falling to the ground clutching her stomach.

Superboy laughed as he surveyed the heroes again for threats. Supergirl lay on the ground a few yards from the rest of the group, clutching at her injured stomach while still in pain from the proximity with the escrima stick, only a few feet from her. Batgirl and Red X were still totally absorbed in Nightwing's corpse and not even considering fighting him. And Raven, the startled bird, was the last one in his sights. He grinned; it was time to hurt that, which Nightwing loved most,

"_You'll take me down eventually but I'll take some of you with me… maybe the other bird so I can complete the set!"_

What happened next was all a blur for Conner.

* * *

Nightwing, having risen silently and painfully, wrapped his arms around Superboy from the back. The Kryptonian was surprised to say the least and tried to break free from his constricting wrap but his arms were pinned to his sides and Nightwing seemed to have strength equal or greater than his own. It was only when he noticed the ring on his opponent's finger. Nightwing squeezed and Superboy cried out in pain as his crushing grip grew tighter still. The hero looked over Superboy's shoulder, staring intently at a newly active Raven,

"Put up a shield Raven…" he croaked out, his voice harsh but wet, probably because of the blood which had pooled up in his mouth since the last few attacks. Raven took a step closer to the two struggling teens,

"But Robin…" she began, her voice only a whisper. Nightwing growled, cutting her off,

"I said put a shield up Raven… I won't see you hurt because of this…" he replied, his voice slightly louder and firmer than before. Raven nodded mutely and a black dome spread over her and the other heroes. Nightwing relaxed a little and Superboy chuckled,

"What's the matter Dick? Didn't want your girl to see you get beaten completely to death?" he teased, hiding his concern over the strength of Nightwing's grip. Nightwing squeezed again, causing Superboy to cry out in pain again,

"No, I just don't want her to watch as I finally kill you…" he seethed, blood oozing out onto Superboy's back with every word he spoke. Superboy chuckled,

"And how will you manage that when you're already half dead Richard?" he asked with a smile. Nightwing didn't reply verbally, he just took off from the ground. Immediately, Nightwing's flight abilities were pushed to maximum as he accelerated the two of them higher and higher into the air. Superboy struggled a little more but couldn't break free from Nightwing's grip. Nightwing barked a weak laugh into Superboy's ear,

"Dead man's grip Conner! It's said to give a man twice his maximum living strength!" he shouted over the roaring winds as the two teen climbed higher and higher, moving past the thin cloud layer over Jump City. Suddenly they stopped, simply hovering above the cloud line. Superboy looked up and then looked down before laughing,

"Is this your plan Richard? To keep the two of us up here?" he asked before laughing again. Nightwing laughed too, surprising Superboy,

"No, my plan is on the trip back down Conner!" he roared before flipping the two of them over so that Superboy's upper body was pointed down and Nightwing's head was protected behind his shoulder blades. Superboy's eyes widened as Nightwing began to accelerate even faster than before, the wind rushing against them seemingly hard enough to bruise. Superboy struggled when they broke back through the cloud layer and saw that they were aimed directly at the burning prison block,

"Are you insane Richard?" he demanded hysterically. Nightwing shook his head,

"No, I'm dead! And now… so are you!" he roared over the wind just before the two of them reached their target.

The burning prison block exploded outwards as the two supersonic teens crashed straight through it to the basement. A large shockwave shot outwards from their impact crater and the entire building caved outwards away from the combatants. Dust and concrete rained down against the black dome surrounding Raven and the other heroes but it held nicely against the wreckage.

As the dust settled the centre of the impact crater was clear to see.

Both Superboy and Nightwing were lying flat on their backs in the crater, both panting heavily as they bled from their own serious wounds and from the pain of several broken bones and crushed organs. But both were still moving, the panting evidence of their survival. Superboy tried to move from his position lying on his back but he fell back down lightly, wincing slightly before chuckling,

"That was one crazy gamble… Richard." He smirked and looked over at the mortally injured Nightwing, "You managed to cheat death… long enough to bring me within reach of it myself…"

Nightwing opened his mouth to answer but all that came out was blood, his mouth full of his own life blood. Superboy chuckled lightly,

"You were the one obstacle in the way of my plan that could not be taken care off any other way…" his eyes flashed green again but this time they changed completely to the light green colour and Richard watched in horror as three white circles appeared in the centre of Superboy's forehead, arranged in a triangle. Brainiac spoke through Superboy in a monotone voice, "You were the wild card Grayson but it seems that you were not even able to defeat this simple peon. A pity but not unexpected. You are nothing but a mere human, despite your impressive ingenuity. But the new world does not require you Richard Grayson; your brand of heroism is redundant. The Laws shall be upheld, at any cost."

Nightwing felt around himself with his left hand and when his hand hit something thin and metallic his fingers curled around it. He looked back at the possessed Superboy for a second before spitting his blood out onto his face,

"Bullshit." He declared before twisting around on the ground, bringing the metal pole out of the ground with his left fist. Green eyes had time to widen in surprise before the pole punctured through the Kryptonian's throat, blood gurgling around the metal obstruction and air wheezing out of the possessed clone rapidly. The green eyes turned to look up into Nightwing's light blue orbs before his mouth formed a slight smile. Slowly, the green drained from Superboy's eyes and the Brainiac symbol on his forehead faded away to nothing. Nightwing blinked a few times and watched as Superboy slumped backwards, his bleeding slowly considerably as his heart finally stopped beating.

Nightwing rolled back over onto his own back, his vision swimming as his own massive blood loss caught up with him. His sight unfocused against his will and he was only able to make out a vague black figure standing over him. He smiled a small smile,

"I… gave it my all dad…" he whispered before closing his eyes, finally free to meet his angel in her white cloak.

* * *

**Part Six, the last part of the series one finale, comes to a close. An epilogue for this series will follow shortly, signifying the beginning of series two.**


	16. Series One Epilogue

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Notes**** : I think I've delayed this long enough. I had a busy month so sorry about the lateness of this update. I hope it was worth the wait.**

Series One Epilogue

Just a Dream

Jack Masters looked down at the glass casket, through the clear material, at the peaceful expression on the masked face of his best friend. Nightwing's costume had been replaced after his body had been recovered from the wreckage of the prison block. He shuddered as he fought not to remember how his friend had looked, his mouth overfilling with his own blood as he lay in an awkward position, his limbs distorted into unnatural shapes.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, stifling the sob even as he tried to choke it down. Unsuccessful, the sob broke from him as a broken sound without any emotion. He'd already cried for his friend, even before he'd found the corpse lying awkwardly in that crater. He'd cried just before Raven had brought up the shield, because he'd seen the way that Nightwing had carried himself. His friend had known he was doomed before he even wrapped Superboy up in his super powered grip.

With a half-sob, half-sigh, Jack placed a hand on top of the glass cover for the casket. His fingers spread against the cool surface naturally. Taking one look at his friend's face, he smiled a little, unknowingly imitating the half-smile his friend had died with,

"You really did a number on yourself this time eh Richard?" he muttered sadly, his breath catching in his thought when he thought he saw his friend draw breath to shot back a witty remark of his own. He let the breath go as a lengthy sigh when he realised that it had just been a trick of the light, reflecting off the domed glass. He sniffed, rubbing his other hand over his eyes with a faint chuckle,

"Would you look at me eh Rich? Crying my eyes out and jumping at shadows! And to think…" he closed his eyes tight, "I once thought that I was better than you."

His hand balled into a fist on the glass as he drew himself fully upright with a deep breath and visible effort. He pulled a simple, black, domino mask from the front pocket of his white suit. Balling his fist, Jack held onto the mask tightly,

"I'm not half the man you were Richard. I never will be." His eyes hardened as he found his resolve, "But I will be the best man that I can be Richard. If not for the people of this city, then for you my friend."

Jack sighed, deflating as he let out his previous deep breath,

"Thank you for everything you did for me Richard. Goodbye my friend."

* * *

Barbra Gordon pulled her black overcoat tighter around her body, as if the temperate room were like ice to her.

It was.

The sight of her most highly valued friend was lying in the glass casket before her, his features soft and peaceful despite his bloody end. She looked away quickly, she'd seen death before of course but his death was something else entirely. Richard had always oozed an infectious confidence that had fooled even her into believing that he wouldn't die, like every other man she knew eventually would. To her, Richard was the one man who would always be there.

He had been larger than life, a true friend and a textbook example of a superhero. His ego had been a sticking point between the two of them at times but Barbara knew that it was most likely because of her own impressively sized ego. She finally looked back down at the casket and sighed, wiping her tears away,

"Would you look at me Dick... I can't even say goodbye without crying." She muttered with a half smile. The light played along the edge of the glass and she leaned forwards to rest her forehead on the casket, "I'm so sorry for everything that happened when you were leaving Gotham... I still love you but I can't bring myself to regret the actions that brought you to Jump City. They brought you back to be again through Jump City after all..."

Barbara opened her mouth to speak some more but simply sighed and walked out of the dark room.

* * *

Toni rolled into the room with a little difficulty, the room having not been made with wheelchairs in mind. She cursed quietly before she passed the threshold and was able to look up at the room's main feature. Her expression softened when she saw Richard's relaxed body lying flat, through the glass case of his coffin. Without a sound she rolled her wheels, coming to a gentle stop beside the case. She sighed and rested the side of her face against the glass,

"I had the dreams again last night..." she began with a forlorn sigh, "It's always the same... he's standing over me ready to kill me and then you show up..."

She closed her eyes tight as another jolt of pain shot up the length of her legs, a reminder of her encounter with Superboy. But due to Richard's intervention, she was merely injured and not disabled or dead. She pulled her face off the glass to look into the whites of Richard's domino mask,

"I owe you my life Richard. You fought to protect me even though your opponent was more powerful than you..." she blushed slightly, "I have to admit... you do make a girl feel special."

She looked over the hand pressed against the glass before sighing,

"There probably won't be anyone who can match what you've set as my standards Richard... but I don't think I'd have it any other way." She smirked suddenly, "To me you'll always stay that hot Goth guy who flexed for me in a nightclub."

* * *

Kara sat down in the conveniently placed chair beside the glass casket and idly made flowery patterns in the glass with one of her nails. She sighed as she looked through the glass at the dead teenager,

"It's such a shame that we didn't get a lot of time to know each other better Richard. I mean, I knew you as Robin and you were a childish friend." She smirked, "And then I met you as Richard and as Nightwing. God... you ass looked so cute in those black tights!"

Her eyes widened and she quickly looked around,

"My god, I hope Barbara didn't hear me calling you outfit tights... she gets really angry when I make light of your equipment." She shrugged a little, "Of course, you're not exactly going to tell her are you?"

Silence filled the room.

"I guess not." Kara whispered, looking down into the whites of the domino mask, "Why couldn't I do anything?"

She pulled her legs up onto the chair and hugged her knees close to herself,

"I just stood there as Conner beat you to a blood pulp! But even when I tried to help I was beaten easily! I'm a natural Kryptonian too and yet Conner just batted me aside." She looked at Richard with more intensity, "And yet you fought him to the end without the aid of an invulnerable body."

Kara pulled herself together and stood up from the chair, her fingertips brushing against the rose she'd etched into the glass,

"If anyone was deserving of powers it was you Richard... you were the greatest type of hero. One of choice."

* * *

She was numb all over. As she looked down into the masked eyes of the man she'd loved, Raven finally came to the same conclusion the rest of the universe had come to nearly two days ago.

Richard Grayson.

The first Robin.

Nightwing.

Dead.

Being half-demonic, Raven was very used to seeing death. In her nightmares her mind played out what would happen if she let herself fall into her demonic nature. Death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. But she had stubbornly refused to accept that he was dead until now.

It just didn't make any sense.

When she'd known him as Robin he'd been stubborn, so stubborn that she was sure that he'd never allow himself to die. This attitude seemed to have rubbed off on her a lot more than she'd previously thought because when she'd first laid eyes on his broken body she'd thought that he was merely joking around with them.

When he hadn't moved or woken up with a grin after a day she thought that he might have been knocked out cold by the fight and was trying to recuperate slowly and silently. However, after using her powers to heal up every single possible injury in his body he'd still just laid there.

It had taken her two days to even entertain the idea that he was actually gone. She'd watched as his new teammates had mourned for him and for Jinx as if they were both dead and silently scoffed. But now she knew the truth in their actions.

You mourn the passing of the living into death.

He was dead.

But what really stung at Raven's chest was that he'd died without ever knowing that she'd returned the feelings he'd expressed in the last pages of his diary. When she thought back to the chaotic fight she realised that there hadn't really been a chance to blurt out her romantic feelings but she was too emotional to rationalise anything anymore.

She reached out with her hand and lightly touched the glass.

As soon as she'd touched the glass a shiver went through her body as the numbness disappeared and the emotions washed over her all at once.

The sadness, the regret and the pain. Oh god the pain. It caused her to shake and let the tears run wildly down her face. With a strangled sob she turned and ran from the room.

* * *

Red X looked across the briefing table at all of the depressed faces and sighed before throwing the simple domino mask into the centre of the table. Four sets of eyes followed the simple strap of material as it lightly landed on the surface of the table.

Silence followed.

Batgirl looked up from the mask, up at Red X,

"You want to take up his name." She deduced, an accusing tone to her voice. Supergirl sat up straight at this and began to look him up and down with a scowl,

"You're not the same man that he was." She said simply. Argent remained silent, her eyes down cast. Raven also remained deadly silently, staring intently at her clenched hands. Red X nodded stiffly,

"I am well aware that no one could ever take his place." He too stared at the mask for a few seconds before continuing, "But Nightwing would never abandon this city to the corruption it's found itself swimming in."

All four girls looked around at each other during his explanation and silence reigned again before Argent spoke up,

"I owe Nightwing my life. And I know this is what he would want." She looked up at Red X and nodded stiffly, "I will remain as an Outsider."

Silence came again, as Red X only nodded once to confirm that he'd heard her. Raven broke the silence this time,

"I... I'm not an Outsider. I will stay as a Titan. There is good to be done within plain sight." She reasoned softly. Red X nodded in understanding before looking at Supergirl. The Kryptonian frowned for a few seconds before nodding briskly,

"I will join the Outsiders. I won't be the reason that his last dream died." She turned to Batgirl, as did the rest of the group. The cowl-clad teenager shook her head slowly,

"There would be too many memories in a team like this. I'm going to go back to Gotham to help Batman." She thought about it for a moment, "Although the replacement Batgirl that Batman has been training would probably be happy to join."

Red X nodded seriously before slowly reaching for the domino mask,

"Then I shall take-"

A bird-a-rang flew through the air and struck the domino mask a few inches from his fingers.

Red X, and the rest of the group, spun towards the door to the meeting room as they stood up from their chairs. All five heroes almost fell back into their chairs in shock at the sight before them.

Nightwing was standing the doorway, a cocky grin in place and arms crossed over his chest,

"I didn't know that I needed replacing." He smirked and slowly peeled off his domino mask. His calm blue eyes now had a dark red ring around their central blue colour. The ring glowed briefly as he turned his gaze to Raven. His expression became serious, "Trigon appreciates the threat as much as we do. He gave me the chance to win my life back and continue the fight."

The red rings glowed again and Raven felt herself shiver,

"The rings of Trigon..."

* * *

**Dun dun dun!**

**The Rings of Trigon huh?**

**I take full responsibility for that little plot twist, its original ;)**

**A new arc begins!**

**Welcome to;**

**Of Gods and Men**


	17. SS: I don't wanna stop

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Note(s);**

**Sorry for my last update's cliffy!**

**I thank you all for continuing to read this story, despite my terrible timing.**

**I'm going to be making chapters based around expanding Outsider membership (like honorary titans but honorary Outsiders) so I'll need some suggestions for heroes/villains to gain membership. One confirmed is the reformed Riddler.**

**

* * *

**

I don't wanna stop

Nightwing stared at Raven, his red and blue eyes sparkling as if he was seeing her fully for the first time. Her features were like heaven to him. Often he'd looked up at the fiery sky of Trigon's realm and imagined her face in the swirling clouds. On such occasions he would simply sit under down and stare up at the sky, heedless of the prowling demons and tortured souls around him. On such nights his mind strayed back to his home. Back to his love.

So joyous was his mood that he didn't care that he was currently pressed up against the wall by a thick band of shadow energy.

He could see the emotion in Raven's eyes, even as her face adjusted to its mask. The corner of his mouth moved up into a smirk. God he'd missed the way she could show him so much with only her eyes. Raven's anger seemed to be winning out however,

"Father! What have you done to him?" she demanded of Nightwing, apparently trying to speak to Trigon through him. He raised an eyebrow,

"Trigon? He's still in his own realm." He told her with a casually playful tone. The shadow's hold tightened around his ribs and his breathing became shallower. He winced but otherwise did not react. Red X looked between Raven and Nightwing before turning to Raven,

"I think someone needs to explain things. Like, how are you alive?" he directed his first question at Nightwing, who just smirked. He then turned to Raven, "And why are you so worked up about a change in his eye color?"

Raven went to answer but Nightwing beat her to it,

"The Rings of Trigon are a visible sign that the mortal in question has been granted some of Trigon's demonic power." He told his friend with a smile. The band of shadows tightened instantly and his breath was forced from his body. He tried to gasp in surprised but choked when no air entered his body. Red X tugged at Raven's shoulder,

"That's enough Raven! You're killing him!" he scolded her with a glare. Raven scowled but the shadows loosened anyway,

"What he's carefully avoided telling you is that people Infected with the Rings of Trigon are controlled by my father!" she seethed in anger, obviously aimed at her father but currently directed at Red X. Nightwing coughed a little,

"Who normally receives the Rings of Trigon?" he asked, shocking the assembled heroes with the sudden change of topic. Raven frowned,

"Followers of the Cult of Trigon." She replied quickly, a scowl present as her fingers began to glow again. Nightwing rolled his wrist in a 'and…' gesture. Batgirl suddenly spoke up,

"So they will already be under Trigon's influence." She deduced with a small smile. Nightwing winked playfully at her, causing Argent and Supergirl to send mini-glares of jealousy at the flushed girl,

"Got it in one." He turned to looked at Raven, his eyes now set and serious, "I have not given him control Raven."

Raven scoffed,

"Exactly what he'd want you to tell me." She declared with a glare. Nightwing's eyes flashed dangerously,

"Let her go this instant Hatred!" he roared across the room at her. Everyone was taken aback by this sudden change in Nightwing's mood. One second he'd been happy and the next he was seething with barely disguised rage. Raven recovered the fastest,

"She let me take control. She can't deal with you and her father joining forces!" she shouted back. Nightwing began shaking with rage and a low growl rumbled out from the depths of his gut. Raven took a cautionary step backwards as he closed his eyes and began to breath in and out deeply. The rage seemed to have disappeared now but he was still shaking, his eyes shut tight as he began to mutter under his breath. Red X chanced a step forwards and blinked in surprise,

"He's chanting a mantra." He told the others with a puzzled frown. Supergirl stepped closer to the restrained figure and poked his arm. Nightwing didn't react to the action. Supergirl shrugged,

"He's not paying any attention to us anymore." She supplied with a light frown. Raven took another step backwards,

"W-what is he chanting?" she managed to whisper, tears brimming in her eyes. Red X frowned and listened for a second. He stood up straight and turned to her,

"Your mantra." He replied softly. Raven's legs felt weak and she immediately made the restraints disappear before she launched herself at him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she cried into his chest. Nightwing slowly opened his eyes and stopped chanting, looking down at her with a faint smile,

"I'm sorry Raven." He told her softly. She opened her eyes to stare back up at him, her tears increasing as she noticed that the red ring had thinned so that almost his entire eye was back to normal. He brushed a stray strand of hair away from her eyes lovingly and bent down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, "I made a deal with him so that I could come back."

Raven sniffed, obviously wanting to simply cry, but she frowned a little,

"What was the deal?" she asked, loud enough for the others to hear. Nightwing sighed, suddenly looking tired,

"We realized that we had a common enemy on earth and agreed that we needed to bring that enemy down. I wanted to bring him down for the good of the people and because it was right. He wanted to destroy him for taking control of some of his minions." He smiled faintly, as if he were forcing the action, "He agreed immediately that I should return to the realm of the living to combat the threat. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that he wanted to come as well."

Raven's eyes widened at this and the others tensed. They knew that Trigon could only come through to their world if Raven was used as a portal. Raven looked deep into Nightwing's eyes and gasped when she saw the strong look in his eyes,

"You refused him in his own realm!" she cried, almost hysterical. Nightwing nodded firmly,

"I didn't accept. I couldn't accept. He'd use you again and I would have lost you again." He shook his head, "So I denied him."

Argent frowned,

"Wait, wait, wait!" everyone turned to look at her, "You refused him even though he's a GOD in his realm? How'd you get away with that?"

Everyone turned to look at Nightwing. Said hero looked up at the ceiling for a second to think,

"Mmm… he said it was because I was the first to do so." He mused calmly. Raven stomped on his foot, causing him to yelp in surprise, "What was that for?"

"You idiot! You could have been stuck there forever!" she cried, tightening her grip around his shoulders. Nightwing shrugged,

"We came to a compromise." He muttered quietly. Red X nodded,

"The Rings of Trigon?" he asked calmly. Nightwing turned to his friend and nodded,

"The Rings of Trigon." He confirmed. Raven frowned,

"That's what I still don't get… how are you still the one in control?" she asked carefully. Nightwing winked,

"It's because you've been misinformed. The Rings are simply Trigon's favor. They do not control the mortal in anyway, just connect them to a small portion of his power." He shrugged again, as if it were nothing, "I even got to chose the nature of the powers I'd take."

Batgirl raised an eyebrow,

"And? What powers did you get from you deal with the devil?" she teased lightly, sitting back down at the table. Supergirl and Red X followed her lead and sat back down at the table. Raven removed her arms from around him with great reluctance and went back to her own seat. Nightwing remained standing and turned to Batgirl,

"He told me about the Demon Lords throughout his world who serve directly under him and control sizable areas of land." His eyes darkened, "He told me that in order to earn the Rings I would have to kill one of them and take their powers for myself."

Supergirl whistled with a smirk,

"A demon lord huh? Bet that was tough." She commented with a wink. Nightwing shrugged,

"I had to be prepared and gather enough power to stand a chance." He shrugged but then looked thoughtful, "I'd say it took me two years to gather a force large enough to challenge his armies and another three to win the war. Then it took me a further four years to track him down and wage another war with the demon lord who'd sheltered him. I got him just under ten years; Trigon said it was a record."

"You were there for ten years?" Supergirl gasped.

"You got demons to fight for you?" Batgirl cried.

"You fought wars?" Argent demanded clarification.

"You won wars?" Red X asked with a huge grin.

All of these questions assaulted Nightwing at once and he grinned before going to reply. Raven cut his answer off,

"You killed?" she asked in a tone barely above a whisper. The others froze and turned to stare at him. Nightwing stood up straight,

"I did." He replied curtly. Raven's gaze trapped his own with its intensity,

"They never surrendered, did they?" she asked, her voice devoid of emotion. Nightwing didn't flinch from her icy tone,

"They did not." He answered shortly. Raven narrowed her eyes,

"What did you do with them after the battle was over?" she all but demanded with only her tone. The others looked uneasy but Nightwing didn't react,

"They were killed by my troops." He told her without a shred of remorse. Raven's muscles tensed,

"How do you feel about that?" she asked, this time a bit gentler. Nightwing shrugged,

"I don't." he replied simply. Raven nodded, apparently satisfied. Red X raised an eyebrow,

"So which demon lord did you go for?" he asked out of curiosity. Nightwing shrugged,

"Azrael, demon lord of death." He replied as if it were irrelevant. Red X frowned,

"So what powers do you get from the Rings then?" he asked, the others now waiting the answer as he was. Nightwing smirked,

"I made a promise to myself when I was there. That if I got back, I would never leave again." As he said this his eyes locked with Raven's, "Never again."

Raven's cheeks colored slightly and three other girls gave her hidden min-glares. Red X rolled his eyes,

"That doesn't tell me what powers you got." He pointed out with a sigh. Nightwing turned his attention back to his best friend,

"I killed the demon lord of death so it doesn't apply to me." He replied with a smile. Argent frowned,

"What doesn't apply to you anymore?" she asked, confused. Raven gasped as she got his meaning,

"You can't die!" she almost whispered. The others heard her though and turned to Nightwing for confirmation. He grinned wider, exposing his pearly white teeth,

"Right you are. As long as Trigon lives, the Rings exist. As long as the Rings exist, I cannot die." He announced with a light chuckle.

Silence followed his announcement.

Red X broke the silence, cracking a huge grin and laughing,

"Cool!" he declared loudly. Nightwing grinned childishly with his friend,

"I know right?" he laughed again and began to look around the room with a constant grin. Batgirl frowned,

"Now hold on a minute… you're telling me that you can't die?" she asked, obviously seeking clarification. Nightwing nodded,

"Yup." He answered before poking his head through the stairwell door that led out of the conference room in an emergency. Argent smiled a little,

"I have to admit that it does sound cool." She commented with a small laugh. Red X grinned at her and she smiled back in agreement. Supergirl frowned,

"Does that mean that you're like me?" she asked hopefully. Everyone turned to look at her with questioning gazes. She blushed a little, "I mean, are you indestructible?"

Nightwing thought about it for a moment,

"I don't know. I don't think so anyway. Trigon just said that I'd live through anything." He shrugged, "I'm not going to ask how I'd live if I was blown up for example."

Raven frowned a little,

"My guess is that your body parts will seek to reassemble themselves with a slow form of regeneration or repair." She commented as she thought about the situation. Nightwing was only paying a little bit of attention, his gaze still drawn to the stairway through the door,

"Uhuh…" he replied with a distracted nod. He suddenly grinned wider and turned to look back at the others, "I think I'm going to go for a run."

Red X frowned,

"Up the stairs?" he asked skeptically. Nightwing grinned playfully,

"Just using them as a way to get to my playground." He replied with a wink. Red X's eyes widened,

"Are you serious? You can't just go and do that!" he tried to reason with his friend. Nightwing waved a hand at his friend,

"I'm just going to get reacquainted with life." He responded before reaching down and doing something unexpected. He began to pull the top half of his uniform off. Red X rolled his eyes. Batgirl turned away with a blush, as did Raven. Supergirl openly stared at his well muscled torso with an appreciating smile. Argent squeaked and went bright red before covering her eyes with her hands, only peeking a little bit. Nightwing threw the top half away before pulling his uniform's lower half down. All of the girls leant forwards in anticipation. It was obvious that Nightwing didn't wear briefs or boxers under his uniform after all.

Nightwing grinned at their disappointed looks when he was revealed to be wearing a pair of skin-tight bicycle shorts. Their disappointment didn't last long when they realized what he was wearing. This time all of the girls went bright red, sneaking glances every now and then. Nightwing laughed before turning on his heel and dashing out of the room, up the stairs.

Dazed after Nightwing's stripping, the girls shook their heads as one a few seconds after he'd left and saw a chuckling Red X. Raven looked around frantically for Nightwing,

"Where did he go?" she asked, feeling a little guilty that she'd stopped paying attention to reality when she'd seen Nightwing in his tight shorts. Red X smirked,

"Couldn't see past your fantasies then girls?" he chuckled at their blushes, "He went up to the clock tower."

Batgirl frowned,

"This place has a set of emergency stairs that lead to a clock tower?" she asked, confused. Red X shrugged,

"The bunker was built underneath it." He replied as if that was all that mattered. Raven stood up,

"He's going to the top of a clock tower… who knows what he'll do up there! We have to go get him!" she commented, getting nods from all three of the other girls. Argent even gritted her teeth and stood from her wheelchair to run with them as they raced up the stairs after their leader.

After several minutes of flat out sprinting they reached the top of the clock tower, spilling out to fill the small balcony that had been built just above the clock face itself. The clock tower itself looked old and gothic in design but that wasn't what attracted their attention. When they looked down they saw something much more interesting.

The minute hand of the clock was firmly on the twelve and Nightwing was balancing on its tip by the big toe on his right foot. His left leg was bent at the knee, his left foot resting against his right knee. Nightwing looked up at them with a grin,

"Did you guys find my boots? I'm afraid I just kind of kicked them down the stairs." He joked before staring down at the busy streets fifty stories bellow him. He frowned a little, "Let's see if demons always lie."

He grinned widely, looking up at his team-mates. He waved his right hand as he allowed himself to fall forwards off of the minute hand and down towards the traffic-filled road bellow.

* * *

**I hope that wasn't too bad. Kind of did it all on a spur of the moment kind of thing. **

**A couple more chapters will basically set the scene before I want your picks for honorary Outsiders. **

**Can be anybody, heroes or villains, as long as they belong to the DC universe.**


	18. SS: I'm Alive

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own any of the characters or places I use in this story, they are all owned by DC comics.**

**Notes;**

**1 – Give me your votes on the new Outsiders goddamn it! : P**

**2 – I believe that fan-fiction did screw with chapter 17 but its back up now (most of the time apparently).**

**3 – Sorry for the rushed quality to the last chapter.**

**4 – The title for this chapter is inspired by the Disturbed song by the same name.**

* * *

I'm Alive

The wind rushed through his hair and battered against his skin, numbing it against the cold. His dark strands of hair flicked and waved with the rush of oncoming air and it hit his face often, blocking his eyes a few times. The inside of his mouth was quickly drying due to the large amount of air buffeting it, and it took him a few seconds to realize that his mouth was wide open. It took him almost a full minute to realize that he was laughing manically. Even after realizing this, he felt no need to stop.

Pavement seemingly rushing up to meet him, the side of the clock tower speeding by underneath him… it was so amazingly liberating. Laughter was the only way he could physically express the freedom that falling like this gave him. Ever since his days in the circus, he'd enjoyed falling more than anything in the world.

However, as he'd gotten older he realized that falling was most often associated with dying or injury of some sort. Having already felt the cold and tight embrace of death once before, Richard was in no hurry to revisit death. His eyes flashed blue, the Rings of Trigon thinning until they were barely noticeable. With a strong movement, he stuck out his right arm as the pavement began to get dangerously close.

His hand caught the flagpole he'd aimed for with a strong grip but to avoid breaking his own arm with a sudden halt in movement; Richard swung his legs to the right. This shifted his momentum rather than stopping it dead and his entire body spun around the flagpole twice before he let go of his metal lifeline and flew through the air to the right at a much slower speed.

Flying through the air again, Richard brought his legs up so that he was flying through the air feet-first. His bare soles connected with the edge of the roof of the building closest to the clock tower. Although the jump hadn't been too far, he winced when his feet hit the edge of the building and the brick cut into his tender feet. Recovering, his toes gripped onto the edge fiercely as he hung out over the edge, over oblivion.

He couldn't help it. With his life hanging by the strength of his TOES, Richard started laughing again. Tears began to mist his eyes but he simply wiped them away before concentrating again. With his legs' incredible strength he pulled his body back up into a sitting position, perched on nothingness and still held up only by his toes. With a deep breath he forced his upper body forwards in a lunge.

He flew over the edge of the roof and landed on the roof proper with a practiced roll which ran out of momentum when he reached the middle of the roof. Barely pausing for breath, Richard lifted his legs up off the ground as he lay on his back. With a grunt he spun his legs round, pulling himself up to his feet with the momentum. Now back on his feet, Richard smiled as he casually walked over to the edge of the building's roof again to get his bearings.

Casting a quick glance around the surrounding city he looked up at the clock tower, seeing four tiny black outlines standing on the highest level. He smirked as all four figures suddenly disappeared. Having seen the figures disappear he was unsurprised when a dark mass of swirling shadows materialized on the roof. He knelt down with his head resting on his fist as he waited patiently.

Not disappointing, Raven, Batgirl, Argent and Supergirl all rose out of the shadowy portal and quickly looked around the roof. All four heroines found him quickly enough and rushed towards him as one. They stopped a few feet from him when he shuffled backwards, closer to the edge. Batgirl took a shaky step closer, her hands out in front of her,

"Come away from the edge Richard… we're here to take you home." She told him in a soothing voice. Richard scoffed,

"I'm having fun Barbara, not suffering from shock." He scolded her playfully. Batgirl scowled,

"With behavior like this how's a girl to know?" she shot back, her mouth twisting into a smirk. Richard clutched at his chest as if wounded,

"Ouch Barbara, I thought you knew me by now." He shrugged casually, "I just wanted to feel the wind on my face again."

Supergirl frowned,

"Wasn't there wind in Trigon's realm?" she asked, missing the way Raven flinched a little at hearing her father being spoken of. Richard shrugged,

"Apparently not. The best I could do was try and fall a lot." He stuck his tongue out at Batgirl, "Just like now."

Argent rushed forwards, pushing past a startled Batgirl to throw herself at Richard. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she fell to her knees in front of him. Richard tensed his legs against the momentum so they didn't move backwards any due to the collision. He looked down at her but Argent had buried her face in his bare chest, sobbing. His expression changed from joy to one of simple understanding. Slowly, he brought his right hand up and ran it through Argent's hair, holding her close. He rested his chin on the crown of her head softly,

"I'm sorry I made you worry Toni…" he whispered to her, keeping the other three from hearing him. The small, silver, girl shuddered against him as she cried into his chest,

"I-I was… so worried…" she managed to say between sobs. Richard hugged her closer,

"Shh, shh, shh…" he cooed, "It's alright Toni. I'm still right here."

Argent hugged herself closer to him and continued to sob, the movements getting gradually smaller as she calmed down. Richard looked up at the others. Batgirl was scratching the back of her head and looking away a bit. Supergirl was smiling faintly at the sight. And Raven had her hood pulled up. He looked at all of them before sighing,

"I'm fine girls. There's nothing to worry abo-"

A loud gunshot rang out somewhere below them and Richard tensed suddenly. Gently pushing Argent away from him, he turned to look down at the streets below.

People were running and screaming, pushing at each other in their panic. Some fell and were quickly either trampled or picked up by the rest of the crowd. The source of their panic was obvious. A two rank thick line of strange looking men were marching in perfect time with each other, guns pointed out in front of them and blasting constantly. Dressed in red jackets and black trouser, Richard blinked when he realized that they looked like old fashioned wooden soldiers. His eyes widened when he realized that they WERE wooden soldiers. A parade float behind them was an even bigger clue.

The slow moving platform was decorated from top to bottom with red, white and blue confetti and streamers. But unlike a fourth of July float, the colors were arranged to form the image of the Union Jack flag. A dozen black cannons rested towards the back of the float, wooden soldiers operating them. In the centre of the float sat a golden throne. A familiar looking 'king' sat on the throne with an equally familiar looking puppet resting on his lap. Richard swore,

"Mad Mod and the Puppet King…" he looked around at the girls, "I need a mask."

Batgirl shrugged a little,

"I wear cowls." She said simply. Richard didn't bother to ask Argent, her outfit was just enough to cover her, and she was still sniffing a little. He turned to Raven,

"Could I borrow your cloak Raven?" he asked quickly, very aware of the continuous gunfire below them. Raven shrank away a little, pulling her cloak closer to her, hood still over her head,

"But… it's my cloak…" she complained, sounding almost childish to Richard. He rubbed at his eyes for a second but stopped when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Supergirl standing next to him, her cape offered. Richard nodded quickly before taking the red cape. With a couple of knots, Richard tied the cape around his head in such a way that only his eyes were visible. With the fabric clinging tightly to his face, Richard couldn't help but smell it. He tilted his head to the side and looked up at Supergirl,

"You smell of cinnamon." He commented idly. Supergirl blushed furiously at the comment, something that confused Richard to no end. Thankfully he didn't see Batgirl's scowl or Raven retreating further into her hood. Richard nodded, "I'm going in."

Without another word he launched himself of the roof, a clear purpose in mind this time.

* * *

Red X typed furiously at the large super computer, his eyes flicking up to look at the screen every couple of seconds before flicking back down to the task at hand. He miss-typed a word and swore before rushing to correct his mistake, blowing the mistake out of proportion in his mind. Another flickering screen in the communications room and he glanced at it quickly.

The news was blaring out the story about Mad Mod and the Puppet King again.

X swore again, turning back to his typing as he tried to ignore the TV set behind him. After all, he was already trying to talk the mayor out of sending in the National Guard and setting up a police state. Of course, the mayor had insisted that they talk about it via the secure instant messaging service between the mayor's office and the Outsider's communications room. Sometimes X thought that the mayor was going through a mid-life crisis and was trying to 'get with it' in an attempt to stay young.

He sighed and leant back in his chair, now confident that the Army wasn't going to come bursting into the city with curfews and bullets to combat the gangs. And bullets. He shook his head again, pulling his mask up to reveal his face. With a lazy hand he rubbed at his tired eyes before yawning a little. He blinked a few times before chuckling,

"Richard was right… you are good." He observed casually. In almost total silence, Batman fell from the ceiling to land gracefully beside X's chair. The teen looked up at the severe looking older hero, "Any particular reason for your visit?"

Batman didn't respond right away, seemingly scanning the computer's screen for any information that he might need later. After a few seconds he turned to look at Red X,

"How did you know?" he asked bluntly. Red X rolled his eyes,

"Not one for small talk are you?" he teased. Batman didn't react and Red X began to feel a little uncomfortable under his gaze, "Richard put in a couple of gadgets in the suit in case he ever needed to fight you."

Batman nodded once,

"Very practical. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." He commented, almost as if it were a mantra to live by. X rested his feet on the computer's disengaged keyboard,

"So what brings you to our little home? No offense but you don't strike me as the type of guy who makes social calls." He drawled with a lazy grin. Batman looked at the screen intently,

"I came to see Richard." He turned to look at X, "I'd heard that his death was… less permanent than expected."

X scoffed,

"Understatement much? The guy broke out of his own glass coffin and just casually strolls into the meeting room." He shrugged, "You want to know details?"

Batman tilted his head to the side,

"I have hunches already. I need you to confirm one or more of them with your information." He replied coldly. Red X sighed,

"It seems that being dead for two days is the same as living ten years in Hell. He made a deal with Trigon in order to fight a bigger threat." He stopped and frowned, "Come to think of it he didn't mention what the threat actually was."

Batman stiffened,

"So it was severe enough for Richard to make a deal with Trigon…" he mused before nodding to himself, "I know what's happening."

Red X raised an eyebrow,

"Going to enlighten me?" he asked casually. Batman waved a hand dismissively,

"Some members of the Justice League have been acting strangely and in perfect sync with each other. As if they are being controlled." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "And I once told Richard that the greatest threat to a hero is losing his mind. It seems that his fight with Superboy was just such a case."

Red X sighed,

"We're not all super geniuses like you and Richard. Does it mean that some of the heroes are going crazy or something?" he guessed with a frown. Batman frowned,

"Nothing so simple. It appears that someone is controlling them…" he shook his head, "But the real reason I came was to tell Richard that I would like to exchange the services of Barbara for the services of the new Batgirl."

X nodded,

"Cassandra right?" he asked, his attention drifting to the TV. Batman raised an eyebrow behind his cowl,

"Who told you?" he asked firmly. Red X grinned,

"It was a guess. Now it's a confirmed truth." He said smugly. Batman smirked,

"You're getting better. Maybe you'll be as good as Alfred one day."

"Hey! I resent that…! I'm not British anyway!"

* * *

Richard swore loudly as the cannons fired as one, their barrels tracking him in a mechanical way that was beyond ordinary cannons. Twelve deadly balls of lead came hurtling towards him as he fell. With a grunt he twisted his body sideways, ducking underneath one and over the top of another. Unfortunately, a single cannonball clipped his shoulder and sent him into a sidelong spin.

With absolutely no control over his landing anymore, Richard slammed into the top of a bus shelter with a sickening _thud!_ He cried out in pain, his left side exploding in pain along his ribcage. More explosions behind him spurred him to move despite the pain, rolling off of the metal bus shelter to avoid the next round of twelve cannonballs that slammed into the shelter. He pressed himself up against the side of the shelter for cover and winced as he ran a hand along his left ribs. A couple were broken but all of them were bruised.

Hundreds of rounds came hurtling towards the shelter from the ranks of wooden soldiers, slamming into the side like rain. Richard winced at the sound before taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes wide and dashed forwards, out from behind the cover of the shelter. Bullets began to rain down around him as he ran to a point in the middle of the road. Without a second's hesitation, Richard pulled the man-hole cover up off the road and hid behind it in the centre of the road. He shook his head as hundreds more bullets rang against the cover, raking his brain to think of something. Fortunately the firing stopped abruptly and he peeped round to see that Mad Mod had stood up from his throne, The Puppet King in his left hand,

"Oi, oi! What's all this then? The king come home or som' ting?" he called out mockingly in his exaggerated British accent. The Puppet King grumbled and hit the British man's wrist sharply,

"Shut up you incompetent moron! Why did you have my soldiers stop firing?" he demanded loudly. Richard rolled his eyes. One thing he'd have to get used to; was the difference between fighting a ruthless demon and an eccentric nobody from the Titan's villain's gallery. Mad Mod rubbed his wrist lightly with his free hand,

"Ya didn't have to be so mean about it ya stinking little matchbox man!" he replied in a strangely bitter British accent. Richard hit his head lightly against the man-hole cover. How did he ever see either of these two as a threat? He shook his head to clear it just as his first real idea hit him. With a grunt he gripped the rim of the cover and stood up straight, dragging the cover up with him. Mad Mod and The Puppet King stopped their arguing to stare at him as he began to spin round and round on the spot. The Puppet King tried to scratch his head but forgot that his fingers weren't really fingers at all,

"What on earth is he doing?" he asked his British counterpart. Mad Mod scratched his head, because his fingers did work,

"Don't know matey… he's acting as crazy as a kettle of fish on Friday!" he commented with a laugh. The Puppet King looked up at him in confusion,

"What? What does that even mean… are you making up words and phrases again?" he demanded loudly. Unfortunately for both 'villains', they had failed to see that Richard had been holding the man-hole cover in an outstretched arm as he'd been spinning. Now he had enough momentum and he released the metal disk. The metal disk flew through the air with speed and precision, hitting Mad Mod's left wrist at full speed.

The makeshift projectile hit its mark with excessive power, flinging The Puppet King from Mad Mod's grasp and sending the British man spinning round in circles before falling down on his backside. Mad Mod rubbed at his aching wrist while he moaned and murmured in pain. However, The Puppet King was in even greater peril,

"You fool! Pick me up again! Ever since those blasted prison scientists experimented on me, I haven't been able to use my powers without a host like you!" he shouted, waving his ineffective arms in as many directions as possible to attract Mad Mod's attention. The red haired man left go of his wrist and slowly got to his feet,

"Ya a gobby little shite ya know that?" he muttered to his 'partner' as he reached down to pick him up. A bare foot stomped on his outstretched hand, pinning it to The Puppet King's torso. Mod looked up at Richard's covered face and gulped loudly, "Don't suppose I can blame it all on 'im can I?"

Richard tilted his head to the side,

"Not really, no." he answered coldly. Mad Mod sighed heavily,

"Can't blame a bloke for tryin' though can ya?" he sighed again. Laughter caught the attention of both Richard and Mad Mod. Both looked down at the cackling form of The Puppet King,

"You foolish hero! You let him touch me! My power has returned!" he cackled again and Richard felt the cold barrel of a gun pressing into his back. He slowly turned his head to see a wooden soldier behind him, waiting. Richard frowned behind the cape,

"So you're going to have him shoot me?" he asked simply. The Puppet King laughed again,

"That's right!" he turned his wooden head to look at the equally wooden soldier, "Fire!"

Richard closed his eyes lightly.

The wooden soldier fired his rifle and the bullet ripped through Richard's torso, tearing flesh, muscle and bone on its messy path through his body. A large hole burst out from the right side of his chest, showering both Mad Mod and The Puppet King with blood and gore. Richard looked down at the hole slowly, as if in shock, and gently raised a hand to touched its outer rim. Upon touching the rim he flinched away from the wound as if burned, closing his eyes tight. The Puppet King began laughing wildly again as Mad Mod whipped his face with a tissue,

"Ya could'a been nicer to the poor bloke…" he muttered, mainly to himself. The Puppet King scoffed at the idea,

"No way, this way he doesn't come back!" he argued firmly. Mad Mod tried to pull the bare foot off of his right hand with his free hand but found that the foot was pressing down with the same amount of force as before. Both villains looked up at Richard just as he opened his eyes again.

The Rings of Trigon had expanded so that only half of his eyes were still blue, the rest of them were the deep and bloody red of the Rings. Both colors flashed dangerously as Richard looked down at them,

"I never did like Puppets." He muttered; his breathing wheezy due to losing a good portion of his right lung. With a grunt he picked his foot up, only to slam it back down with twice as much force as before. His heel broke Mad Mod's hand but the force continued until a large crack appeared down the front of The Puppet King's wooden body. The wooden puppet fell limp and lifeless as it should be. The wooden soldiers, their creator dead, fell to the ground as inert wooden figures. Mad Mod cried and whimpered over his broken bones and Richard simply looked down at him,

"Prison. Now." He stated calmly, air wheezing out of the hole in his chest. Mad Mod visibly paled but brought his left hand up in a salute,

"Right you are govner!" he replied before running in the direction of the prison. Richard looked up at the rooftop where he knew four extremely worried/pissed/curious super heroes were waiting for him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration; this was not going to be a pleasant thing to explain.

* * *

**Next chapter includes more answers and questions about The Rings. But, more importantly, it involves my second favorite Bat Family member being brought into this story (and my least being taken away)!**

**I have a poll up on my profile page about starting a new titans fic alongside this one. Just some choices but I'd be thankfully if some people voted.**

**Thank you for reading and make sure to tune in for;**

**Second Series (SS) Chapter Three - Closer**


	19. SS: Feed my Frankenstein

**Disclaimer: A list to be better organised;**

**I do NOT own the Teen Titans, DC does.**

**I do NOT own any members of the 'bat clan', DC does.**

**I do NOT own an electric toothbrush.**

**I DO own a domino mask.**

**Note: I've got a new laptop and I've decided that I'll re-start the chapter I'd started to write up on my home computer. Mainly because that version sucked and I hit a dead end with it. This version is better though. Chapter is named after the Alice Cooper song.**

**Many plot-bunnies gave their lives for this chapter to be completed in the great plot-bunny/dust-bunny War. Their sacrifice shall be honoured!**

Feed my Frankenstein

Nightwing gritted his teeth tightly and took a few staggering steps backwards, away from the bewildered (and retreating) Mad Mod. He was seriously regretting speaking, or moving, after the bullet had torn through his torso. The remains of his right lung were bleeding profusely, while at the same time leaking any air remaining within. Without meaning to, he took another step back and almost fell to the ground as his left leg buckled. Before he could fall far, his training kicked in and his left leg snapped into a fixed position to halt the fall.

Looking back up at Mad Mod, to see if he would take advantage of his weakness, he realised that his eyes were tearing up. Quickly he blinked a few times to bring his vision back to its peak. Thankfully, the British villain was still just standing a few yards down the road from him. He tried to take a step forwards and succeeded in doing so. The problem was that the action was enough to cause some of the leaking blood from the ruined lung upwards. His eyes widened as he was seized by the suddenly urge to cough, violently. This proved to be a much bigger problem with half a lung missing or leaking out through his chest.

Without his consent, his body lurched forwards and his chest constricted into a savagely strong coughing movement. His mouth fell open and he was helpless to stop the wad of blood that flew from his mouth to splash against the ground. The lung's steady leakage of blood and lung pieces increased with the cough, more gore spewing out to splatter across the broken remains of a giant wooden soldier. In a futile effort to stop the blood leaking out, Nightwing pressed his left hand over the hole in his chest and his right over his mouth.

His teeth were gritted throughout the explosive pain from the cough. He's made himself a little promise that he wouldn't cry out in anyway, despite the pain, because it would only make the damage to his right lung worse. But he was already beginning to consider going back on his word. Often he'd noticed that the pain of an injury didn't seem so bad if you could vocalise your pain. He knew that, in this case, it would simply make it worse so he gritted his teeth and willed himself to be as silent as possible.

He coughed again. Once again, he tried desperately not to comply with his body's impulse but it proved futile. Blood pressed heavily against the hand he'd placed over the hole in his torso, while simply oozing between his fingers when it tried to escape his mouth. The pain lanced through him again and he forced his jaw shut even tighter than before to stop himself crying out in pain. Although he stopped himself crying out in pain, his vision clouded before slowly becoming darker and darker. He vaguely felt an arm catch him as he fell towards the ground but by that time the only thing that mattered was the pain, and how he wouldn't allow it to beat him.

* * *

Red X ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. The other Outsiders had spent too much time out in the city as it was, they needed sleep after all, and he was starting to get annoyed with the way that Batman had started to scan every inch of their underground bunker with various scanners designed to scan for every type of scanner known to the Dark Knight. In his own opinion, there was way too much scanning going on here for his liking.

Just as he was about to say something to Batman about the particularly annoying sounds coming from the newest device, the main doors to the bunker exploded inwards. Immediately both Red X and Batman had pulled projectiles out of their utility belts and were ready to throw at a second's notice. However, instead of an enemy force it was Supergirl who had beaten the double doors in. Flying quickly, the blonde haired alien hero landed next to Red X,

"X, Richard's been hurt!" she managed to tell him before flying away to get the medical bay prepped. X threw his disk to the ground as Batgirl and Raven came in through the same door, struggling to carry a bloody Nightwing between the two of them. Batman swooped down on the two girls instantly,

"Richard!" he shouted, his worry for his adopted son evident. Without another word he took Nightwing's limp body from the two teenage girls and began to sprint down to the medical bay. Red X ran up to a shocked looking Raven and grabbed her by the shoulders,

"What happened? How did this happen?" he demanded, shaking the half-demon in his anger. Raven didn't react to the shaking, her eyes still trained on the retreating form of Batman and his son. Although Raven didn't object to the rough way she was handled, Batgirl did,

"Leave her alone X! She's worrying enough as it is, believe me." She scolded him, breaking his hold on the smaller girl. X shook his head quickly before turning,

"Whatever, we don't have time for this. We need to get to the medical bay." He replied dismissively, running to catch up with Batman. Batgirl slowly helped Raven stop zoning out in her shock and got her moving towards the medical bay. With that done she quickly went back out of the door to see that Argent had simply collapsed on the ground, sobbing heavily into her hands. She understood entirely what the girl was putting herself through but she knew that Argent would hate herself even more if she wasn't there for Nightwing when he was possibly dying again. Silently, she bent down and scooped the younger girl up before carrying her bridal style through the main area of the bunker and through into the medical bay.

The medical bay itself was almost identical to the one found in Titan Tower, with three examination tables cut from stainless steel and the latest in medical equipment and supplies waiting for use in glass cabinets. Although the windows of the Titan Tower's medical bay were missing due to the bunker being underground. But the first thing that Batgirl noticed when she walked into the room with Argent was that Nightwing's face was now totally uncovered from Supergirl's cape so that she could clearly she the way his handsome features were twisted in agony. Batman (without his cowl), Red X, Supergirl and Raven were all crowded around the examination bed. Batman was stood near Nightwing's head, resting a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder,

"Richard… it's going to be okay Richard. We can help you here Richard…" he soothed his adopted son. Nightwing's only response was to scrunch his face up further, obviously still trying to fight the pain. Batman turned to face Red X, "Get the morphine X!"

Red X rushed from the bedside to root around in one of the closest glass closets. Batgirl walked further into the room, laying the sobbing Argent on the examination table nearest Nightwing. She watched as Raven seemed to sink into her cloak before withdrawing to one of the waiting chairs in the corner of the room. She was about to venture across the room to comfort the younger girl when movement caught her eye. On the table, Nightwing has started to thrash and writhe in pain wildly. The movement was a reflex to the pain that he was obviously feeling but the same movement was helping to tear up his ruined lung and thus causing more pain. Batman tried to press down on Nightwing's shoulders to keep him still but the instinctual strength of his son was too much for even him to hold. His head snapped towards Supergirl, "Kara! Pin him to the bed! Stop his upper body from moving!"

The alien hero nodded once before quickly pinning Nightwing's struggling frame to the table by one hand, apparently with little to no effort. With her hand on his undamaged side of his chest, she was able to hold his entire upper body still without making his wound worse. Red X quickly hurried over with a needle. He squeezed a few drops out of the needle and tapped the side of it to remove any air bubbles before looking to Batman for the go-ahead. Batman nodded gruffly, resting his hand on Nightwing's shoulder again in a comforting manner. X lined up the needle with a prominent vein in Nightwing's right arm and pushed it in. Slowly, the morphine emptied itself from the needle into the young man's bloodstream but Nightwing's face was still contorted in pain and his lower body still thrashed wildly in instinctual pain. Batman shook his head before turning back to Red X,

"Get the scans complete already!" he demanded of the teenager, his concern for Nightwing starting to get to him. Red X nodded and picked up the small, handheld, scanner and peered at the screen intently. He looked up with a confused frown,

"Your scanner must be broken. It's scanned him and it says that the morphine is working on his body, when it obviously isn't." he snarled, his temper flaring against that of the Dark Knight. Before Batman and Red X could have a fight about the scan and Nightwing's condition, Raven spoke up from the corner,

"It's because the pain he feels isn't bodily paid. By all rights, his body is dead." Her voice was muffled and darker due to the hood, "It's his spirit that is still in pain. The Rings of Trigon have twisted the natural order of things in him. His body is dead so his spirit should have left this plane of existence already but the Rings have trapped it to his body so that he can't pass on."

Batman scowled,

"Now is not the time for long explanations. Now is the time for you to find a way to fix my son!" he shouted, seemingly unaware that he'd referred to Nightwing as his son. Raven nodded slowly,

"I've read about the way to heal him. But it's costly…" she trailed off. Batgirl took a step forwards,

"I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say that we will gladly pay any price to bring Richard back." She announced firmly. Nods went around the room until Raven sighed,

"I have a healing spell that will fix the physical damage done to his body but the other spell is the costly one. The spell to reattach his spirit to his body fully." She stood up from her chair and began to chant. The others watched in fascination as the hole in Nightwing's chest slowly began to close as new flesh grew from the edges rapidly. After a few seconds the wound had disappeared but Raven now simply hung her head. Nightwing was still in pain however, although now his wound was healed he was able to vocalise his pain. Startling the other occupants of the room, he cried out suddenly in a dry and throaty voice. Batman took one look at Nightwing and turned to Raven with a determined expression,

"Do it. We'll pay the price. What do you need?" he asked tightly. Raven reached over the table and pulled a razor sharp bat-a-rang from his utility belt,

"In order to bind his spirit to his body correctly, the spell needs the life-force of another. Blood would be the best carrier of life-force in this case." She informed them grimly. Just as Batman opened his mouth to speak, she continued, "In the case of human life-force… he would need all of another human's life-force. It would kill you to let him live."

There was silence for a few minutes before Red X snatched the bat-a-rang from Raven forcefully. The other's watched in stunned silence as he pulled off his left glove before beginning to roll up his sleeve. Batman grabbed hold of the bat-a-rang to stop Red X from cutting himself down the length of his left arm,

"You don't need to do that. You have a mother to look after." He reminded the younger hero. Red X felt his eyes beginning to water and he tugged at the bat-a-rang,

"That's why I have to do this! Richard saved my mother's life… this is nothing compared to that!" he replied firmly. Batman shook his head and pushed Red X onto the floor, the bat-a-rang back in his possession,

"I will be the one to do it. He is my son…" he looked down at the screaming and thrashing Nightwing, his eyes softening, "I will gladly do this for him."

Raven pulled her hood back, showing her face for the first time since they'd encountered Mad Mod and the Puppet King earlier. Her face was devoid of all emotion and expression but it was easy to tell that she'd been crying by the red rings around her eyes,

"There is another way." She announced firmly. Everyone except the thrashing Nightwing turned to look at her. She carefully took the bat-a-rang from Batman's loose grip, "I am half demon. Therefore my life-force is by far the most potent out of all of ours here… if I am correct then all I need to do is give one drop."

Batgirl frowned,

"There must be a reason why you've allowed Nightwing to remain in such pain while you've held the key to saving him from it." She noted, trying to calm an increasingly angry Batman. Raven nodded,

"The truth is that I'm not sure what my father has planned for Rich- I mean, Nightwing. This could be playing into his hands…" she looked down at the screaming Nightwing and cut the tip of her thumb on the bat-a-rang, "But I don't think I care even if this does work in his favour."

The small cut slowly provided a single drop of red blood. Raven closed her eyes and smeared the drop of blood on Nightwing's forehead. After a few seconds, the bloody smear change colour from bright red to a deep black. Despite Supergirl's efforts to keep him pinned to the examination bed, Nightwing arched his back and let out a cross between a shout and an animalistic howl. Then, just as suddenly as it started, he simply fell back onto the table in silence. His face cleared of the contorted expression of pain and his eyes slowly opened. All of the Outsiders and Batman crowded around the table to look down at him. He slowly began to smile and reached out for Batman with a weak hand. Batman took the hand in his own with a small smile. Nightwing squeezed the hand weakly with a lazy grin,

"I'm hope you don't mind but… I'm going to sleep now Dad."

* * *

**And there you have it. I changed the title of the chapter and changed the nature of Nightwing's immortality. And all because my plot-bunnies decided that a change in attitude was needed (also, helpful reviewers helped).**

**Next chapter****: **

**SS: Bat Country**

**Reviews are always a good thing. Hint hint.**


	20. SS: Bat Country

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own the Teen Titans. If I did, Affection would have jumped Robin's bones in the series because he would have entered Nevermore with Cyborg, and not BeastBoy. Also, the series would still be going strong today.**

**Note****: I have a deal on that may affect this story's updates. I'm doing a series of one-shots but I made a deal with RukiaRae that I would update my proposal one-shots so that she would update her '10 Things I hate about you' fic with Rob/Rae in it. Just a little warning.**

_**Plug:**__** Read RukiaRae's "10 Things I hate about you". Good play (taming of the shrew I believe), Great film (with a younger Heath Ledger no less!) and an amazing fic adaptation. **_

* * *

Bat Country

Richard opened his eyes slowly, forcing them open despite the layer of sleep-created crust that had caked his eyelids together. Blinking quickly to clear his eyes he looked around himself without moving from his comfortable position lying on his side. For the first time he noticed that he was lying on his side, in a bed that was not his own, in a room that was unfamiliar to him. Immediately his mind snapped into overdrive and he flung himself off the bed into a quick defensive position.

Nothing happened.

He looked around himself a little bit more carefully this time, noticing that he was in the medical bay of the Outsider's bunker. The bed he'd slept so comfortably on was actually a hard metal examination table and he was still dressed only in his pair of tight shorts. Quickly, he scanned the room for other occupants.

Argent was curled up into a little ball on one of the other examination beds, a thin sheet covering her up to her shoulders but seemingly doing little to keep the cold of the room from getting to the younger girl. As he watched, the sleeping Argent shivered against the cold and tried to curl herself even tighter into a ball. Richard dropped his defensive stance and walked slowly over to her bedside.

After quickly taking the readings from the automated scanners and deducing that she'd simply fallen asleep in the medical bay, Richard gently scooped up the sleeping girl. With great care he walked out of the medical bay and turned towards the living areas. As he walked, Argent stirred slightly in her sleep and murmured something too quiet for him to hear. He cooed softly in her ear and the silver skinned girl scrunched up her sleeping face and tried to burrow it into his chest in her sleeping quest to find a better pillow.

Richard smiled softly and pushed the button to open the door to her room. Quickly moving across the room, he gently set the sleeping girl down on her mattress before pulling her own covers over her. A thought occurred to him as he smoothed her covers a little, this was the first time he'd set foot in Argent's room since she'd moved in and added her own touch to the room.

His initial thoughts were that the room was much like Raven's room in the Titans Tower, it was dark due to a lack of powerful lights and the fact that it was located underground helped by ridding the room of any natural light. The walls were painted, three of them were a dark silvery colour that made him smirk but the last wall was a dark blue. What caught his attention though were the newspaper clippings pinned to the dark blue wall. Curious, he walked over to the wall and began to examine some of the clippings.

As he read the headlines, his raised an eyebrow as the subject of all of the newspaper clippings seemed to match. All of the articles were about the 'Bat-clan' as they'd been dubbed by the media and superhero community. Blurred photos of Bruce during his early days as Batman were few and far in between but not one photo showed him after the first few months of his second life, mainly because Bruce had gotten better at hiding from the media. Of course, the Robins were pictured in more detail. He saw himself standing, posing really, in front of captured villains in Gotham and Jump alike. A small lump formed in his throat though when he started to see the pictures of the second Robin, Jason Todd.

Although he hadn't known Jason very well (hell, he'd resented the kid for awhile), the lump in his throat refused to be moved. Not because he regretted not knowing Jason as well as he could have done in life, he did regret it but that wasn't the cause of the lump. Not because he was saddened by his untimely death, he felt saddened of course but it wasn't causing the lump either. No, what caused the lump was that he had seen him since his death.

In Trigon's realm, a large number of souls went before the all-powerful demon in order to plead their case and try to be allowed to return to the world. When he'd arrived after his death, Richard had done the same. But in the vast plain before the demon king, he'd met Jason again. Jason had the same idea, to gain Trigon's favour and thus be returned to the world. It was hard on Richard to see Jason there, as a tortured soul to whom he'd shown nothing but contempt for in life. But in death they had set aside their differences and bonded as the brothers they should have been.

Unfortunately the lump in his throat was because Jason and he had warred together and went to get their wished granted together. Richard was allowed to return to the world of the living with the Rings of Trigon. Jason's request was denied. The lump in Richard's throat was because just seeing pictures of Jason reminded him of the way the second Robin had smiled sadly at him as Richard had begun to ascend to the world of the living. It reminded him of having to leave the man he'd grown to love as a brother in the closest place to Hell.

He quickly shook his head to strengthen his resolve again, to reassure himself that despite Jason's noble quest to kill the Joker, he'd been the one with the purer cause. His breathing slowed to normal as he slowly exited Argent's room, checking on the sleeping girl quickly before he left and closed the door. With a sigh he began to walk around aimlessly, having already assessed that the other Outsiders weren't in the bunker. They were most likely out fighting crime and bringing order back to the city by dragging more and more of the Titan's rouges gallery back to containment. Refreshed from his long and satisfying sleep, Robin slipped into his own room just long enough to pull his laptop out with him on his way into the kitchen area.

Setting the red machine down at the breakfast counter, Richard moved over to the fridge and took out the single carton of fresh orange juice. Taking a deep drink straight from the container, he closed the fridge with his foot and wandered back over to the breakfast counter. Sitting down on the closest stool, he fired up his laptop and set the orange juice down. He cracked his knuckles with a small smile.

Time to find some worthy recruits…

* * *

When the main doors to the bunker slid open, Batman and the Outsiders slowly walked into the main living area. All of them were thoroughly exhausted, Batman less visibly so than the others it had to be said. After all, they had just tracked down Brother Blood and his new HIVE academy and launched a successful raid that had captured a few villains and made the others flee. But as they were about to fall into the comfortable chairs in the living area, an intoxicating smell wafted over to them from the kitchen area.

Led by their noses, the heroes slowly trudged into the kitchen area and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them but for different reasons. Batman and Red X stopped and tried to erase the images from their minds frantically. While Raven, Batgirl and Supergirl all tried to memorise everything that was happening in front of them.

In the kitchen, Richard Grayson was still dressed in his thin shorts and was currently bending over to inspect something in the oven. With his back to them, a certain 'asset' was displayed prominently. And when he stood up and turned to look at them with a goofy smile, they all laughed a little to see that he'd managed to cover almost his entire torso in a fine, white, powder. He chuckled,

"I got bored so I decided to bake cakes!" he told them in an excitable manner. Red X pinched himself roughly before simply shaking his head,

"I'm going to bed…" he muttered to himself before trudging back out of the kitchen to find his own bedroom. Batman shook his head, a small smile forming,

"If memory serves Dick… you can't bake." He observed without his usual, cold manner. Richard stuck his tongue out at his mentor,

"Spoilsport." He replied childishly. Batgirl giggled a little, such a childish display had never been presented to the Dark Knight. But Batman seemed to take it in his stride and did something that would have made the Joker die of shock. He stuck his own tongue out at his young ward before retreating from the room. Batgirl stood there, her mouth hanging open, as she watched Batman walk away. Richard grinned,

"I knew I could get him to do that someday…" he muttered to himself in victory. Batgirl shook her head, leaving the room in shock. Richard shrugged at Raven and Supergirl before turning away and bending down to inspect the cakes again. When he turned back round, Raven had her hood up and Supergirl's cheeks were flushed bright red. He raised an eyebrow, "Are you two alright?"

Raven muttered a reply that was lost inside her hood and tried to sink further into her cloak. Supergirl's face went a deeper shade of red and Richard could have sworn he saw her hide a digital camera behind her back,

"Y-yeah! We're fine! I'm just… going to be in my room now…" she nervously began to back out of the room, "For awhile…"

Richard nodded in confusion as the alien girl ran away quickly from the kitchen area. He turned to Raven and smiled wide, taking a few big steps towards her. The half-demon let out a strange sound, a cross between a squeak and a yelp, before beginning to half-heartedly back away from his advancing form. Richard grinned like a predator and trapped Raven lightly against the wall by placing his hands either side of her,

"I never got a chance to thank you… for what you did for me…" he whispered huskily, right in her ear. He chuckled as he felt Raven shiver, "And I feel that I need to do it properly…"

Raven shrank back further into her cloak and took another step back, this time into her own shadow. Richard chuckled and grabbed the front of her cloak lightly as she began to slip through the portal she'd created. He pulled her gently back out of the portal,

"Not escaping me that easily little Raven." He teased her lightly before flinging back her hood with his free hand. She was blushed furiously, darkening her grey skin slightly. He chuckled, leaning in closer to Raven's ear once again, "How about I thank you in your room."

Raven gave another small squeak as Richard pushed her gently into the still swirling portal in her shadow. Richard followed closely behind her and just grinned as the oven's door exploded off in black energy. The two of them stumbled into Raven's darkened room, still located in Titan's Tower, Richard noted with some internal bitterness. He tugged at her cloak, pulling it off of in one swift movement. Raven tried to shrink into herself further but without her hooded cloak, Richard could still find her perfectly well. He chuckled and rubbed his nose against her own nose affectionately. Raven's blush deepened as Richard steered the two of them over to her bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed, bringing Raven down with him onto the edge of the bed. He smiled easily at her,

"What should I do to thank you Raven?" he smiled as she squirmed a little, it looked cute after all, "What can I do for you…?"

Raven shivered again and Richard knew that it wasn't because the room was colder than the kitchen in the bunker. With jerky movements, Raven brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and muttered something too quiet to hear. Richard grinned and leant down close to her,

"What was that Raven…? I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up." He teased, knowing that his proximity was driving her crazy. A book shredded itself in dark energies. Raven managed to pull her head up to look directly into Richard's joyful, blue, eyes,

"C-can I see your soul?" she asked quietly. Richard raised an eyebrow,

"And how would we do that?" he inquired openly. Raven looked down for a few seconds before resuming their eye-lock,

"You enter through my mirror and enter my mindscape… you are manifested there as your soul-self." She told him in a nervous voice. Richard gently stroked the side of her face with his hand,

"If that's what you want…" he replied before his expression saddened slightly, "You won't like it though."

Raven frowned a little and slowly, cautiously, raised her own hand and stroked the side of his face,

"But I want to see every part of you… Richard." She told him, her blush returning in full force. Richard's eyes hardened,

"No you don't Raven; trust me." He looked away, "To come back to you, I made a lot of sacrifices."

Raven's eyes widened,

"You sold your soul to my father?" she asked, shocked to say the least. Richard shook his head,

"Nothing like that…" he sighed, "To survive in a world of demons, the human soul twists itself in Trigon's realm."

Raven frowned,

"So you're saying that you changed… physically?" she seemed nervous to him now. Richard shrugged,

"I waged two wars in order to kill the demon lord of death and thus master his aspect of the afterlife, death itself." He smirked, "Yes, my soul changed just a little bit to make sure that I would 'live' as it were."

Raven got up from her bed and picked up a delicate looking hand-mirror. She presented it to Richard, handle first,

"Show me." She asked her voice quiet and timid. Richard nodded slightly and took the handle of the mirror. With a sigh, he looked into the mirror. His reflection stared back up at him, but it wasn't his living reflection. He almost recoiled from the sight of his own soul-self. Then, with a sucking feeling, Richard disappeared into the mirror and into Nevermore.

* * *

Richard closed his eyes as the various Ravens gasped and recoiled away from the sight of his soul form. He had known that this was going to happen, the second he'd looked into the mirror. Looking away from the personifications of Raven's emotions, Richard stopped when he saw his reflection in a full length mirror.

His skin was a light grey, almost like a chalky white, and reminded him of the skin found on a corpse after it lain dead for several weeks. Protruding from the pale skin, at his shoulder and elbows, were thick spikes of black substance. Almost like bone, they were ridged and pointed and yet seemed to be natural on his new form. His body itself was more muscled than in his living state and even more scars were present on his soul-form than on his living-form. But his face was what had changed the most.

His chin was more defined, more like Bruce's chin when being Batman. His eyes were the same but a strange domino mask had formed around them, made out of the same material as his shoulder spikes and yet left his eyes exposed. He could feel in his mouth, his teeth had returned to the sharp points they'd been in Trigon's realm. Finally, he looked back up at the assembled Ravens.

Each of the emotions had reacted slightly differently after the initial shock had caused them to recoil. Intelligence was nodding her head with a mix between a smug look and sadness, obviously she'd guessed correctly about his appearance. Bravery was taking steps closer to him, tilting her head sideways a few times to try and see every part of his new appearance. Envy was giving him dirty looks, apparently envious of somebody because of something he'd done. Happy was jumping up and down, clapping her hands, while letting out little high pitched noises every few seconds. Timid had hidden behind Bravery and was clinging onto the other Raven's yellow cloak like a safety blanket. Rage was looking at him in a way that he hadn't expected; she was looking him up and down and licking her lips. Then there was the purple Raven. He'd never seen her before, but she was currently being restrained by the Real Raven. She was restrained because she seemed hell-bent on launching herself at him.

With a sigh, Richard smiled a little, flinching as Timid recoiled again from his point teeth. He looked away and shook his head. A poke to his upper arm made him turn round again. Bravery was poking his bicep muscle in fascination. She turned to the Real Raven,

"Look at the size of these guns! You picked a winner here boss!" she called out gleefully. The Real Raven blushed and tried to stutter out a reply but eventually just settled for a blush. Rage strode forwards, pushing Bravery out of the way as she looked him up and down from only a few inches away. She growled lowly at him and Richard felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. On instinct, he growled back in a much deeper and louder way in response to the 'challenge' she'd issued. Rage smiled a sly smile and licked her lips again,

"Oh yes… you'll do nicely…" she whispered hoarsely before starting to circle him while maintaining the close proximity with him. Richard jumped a little when she smacked him lightly on the backside, "Oh you're exactly what we need… so dangerous… and yet so lovingly dedicated."

Rage gave him and wink and turned to Bravery,

"Brave! Check what we have to work with here." She commanded the other emotion. Bravery nodded and strolled over to Richard as Rage walked away. Without warning, she reached forwards and cupped his crotch. Richard's reaction was to try and push her away but Bravery stayed for a few seconds longer than he'd have liked. The green emotion grinned and gave the Real Raven two thumbs up,

"We've got a **real **keeper here boss-lady!" she called out before disappearing just like Rage had done. Richard raised an eyebrow at Raven,

"Okay… so now can that you've all seen my soul-self… can we go back? It's kind of chilly in here." He muttered quietly as another harsh wind blew at him.

* * *

**Yay!**

**Another chapter has been completed! And it was quite a long one no less! **

**Review please!**

**Next chapter will have two new characters brought into the story, one for a limited run and the other for quite a long run.**

**Next chapter;**

**SS: You're Gunna Go Far Kid**


	21. SS: You're gunna go far kid

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own anything so don't sue.**

**Notes:**

**Another chapter of Rob/Rae shipping here.**

**Shorter chapter than normal. I was going to include another scene but I decided to cut it short to update quicker.**

**Plug for RukiaRae's "Ten things I hate about you"**

**My work is getting heavy again so the updates are going to be irregular again so please forgive me.**

You're gunna go far kid

Richard stretched his aching muscles as he walked out of Raven's room, still wearing only his tight black shorts but otherwise naked. He sighed a little as he strolled idly down the corridor, memories flitting back to him unheeded as he passes his old room. With morbid fascination, he silently glided over to his old room's door. Closing his eyes gently at the memories, he placed a soft hand against the featureless grey metal of the door. Analysing his hand, the door slid open instantly as it recognised his hand.

The room was dark and dusty, with the window shutters all activated and the lack of activity in the room since his disappearance, it was no wonder really. Silently, he moved into the room, noticing that his mere entry set the dust floating around the entire room. With a shake of his head he made his way over to his old dresser, pulling the top drawer open smoothly. Peering inside, he frowned when all of the clothes inside turned out to be copies of his Robin suit. A hint of disgust rose inside of him, that he had ever worn such a terrible outfit was something that just didn't sit right with him. Just as quickly as the disgust had come, it disappeared and was replaced. A warm feeling spread through him when he remembered the day that Bruce had presented his first Robin suit to him.

Clearing his head of such distracting thoughts, Richard moved over to one of the two wardrobes fitted into the wall. Idly he opened the one closest to him and looked into the wardrobe at some of his more 'high-end' disguises. With a frown he ran his eyes over some of the outfits on display before his face lit up with a smile as his gaze fell upon the perfect outfit.

It took him almost no time at all to get changed into the new outfit, it had been awhile but it still fitted perfectly. The silk of the shirt almost caressed his muscles as he walked over to the mirror attached to the far wall. Once in front of the mirror, he took the chance to examine himself in the reflective surface. The tight black jeans hugged his legs closely but at the same time, he didn't feel restricted by them in anyway. His boots were black with random silver studs and other pieces of metal pointing out of them. The shirt was even tighter than the jeans, especially around his chest. It's only good feature was its material, black silk with a few lines of silver silk in there occasionally. He flexed his muscles a little to try and get the shirt to feel less constricting around the chest. The top button exploded off of the shirt violently as he flexed his chest. He frowned and then flexed again, now completely free to move as he wanted in the tight shirt. With a grin he left the room, locking it again by tapping the side of the doorway.

With casual strides, he walked down the corridor until he reached the door to the main room. The door opened automatically and he made a beeline for the kitchen area, casting only a quick glance around the room to find it completely empty. He shrugged at the lack of Titans before making his way over to his most prized possession still in the Tower; his coffee maker. He grinned and stroked the side of the machine lovingly before pushing the button. The sensational smell of coffee filled the small kitchen area almost immediately and he breathed it in deep. He sighed a little as the door to the main room opened with a swishing sound. Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, he noticed a yawning BeastBoy and a stretching Cyborg walking into the room.

He returned his attention back to his coffee maker as the machine beeped once. He smiled and pulled a mug off of a cup rack and began to pour some of his piping hot drink. With an idle attempt to pretend to be looking where the milk was kept in the fringe, he cast another quick glance behind him and saw both BeastBoy and Cyborg standing awkwardly near the dining table, confused expressions on their faces. Richard waved a little with his free hand before turning to pour some milk into his coffee. With his hand still holding the milk carton, he managed to open the fridge door and place the milk back on the shelf while stirring his coffee with a spoon in the other hand. He threw the spoon in the sink as he knocked the fridge door closed with his left knee. Finished preparing his coffee, he turned round to face BeastBoy and Cyborg as he raised the cup,

"Morning." He greeted them politely, choking back more than a little bitterness as he took a sip from his coffee. Here he was, back in Titans Tower again and talking to two people who'd left him for dead. And because he wasn't wearing a traffic light outfit and mask, they had no idea who he was. BeastBoy, surprisingly enough, was the first to recover from his shock and confusion,

"Hey… who the hell are you dude?" he asked, it being too early in the morning for BeastBoy to feign politeness. This question acted as a catalyst to bring Cyborg out of his stupor,

"Yeah… and how'd you get in here?" he demanded, moving forward in an attempt to appear menacing. Richard mentally scoffed; he'd seen demons with puss for skin and faced down a rampaging Superboy. He was not intimidated in the least by Cyborg. But Richard, the unassuming civilian, would be. So Richard adopted a slightly intimidated expression,

"My name's Richard. Richard Grayson." He looked from BeastBoy to Cyborg, "Raven let me in, last night."

Cyborg backed up a bit when he mentioned that Raven had let him in, looking relieved. BeastBoy's eyes widened significantly though,

"Richard Grayson?" he asked, shocked. Richard nodded, puzzled, "As in, Richard 'adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne' Grayson?"

Richard swore mentally as he watched Cyborg's human eye expand with the revelation. He really hadn't thought that BeastBoy, of all people, would actually **know** who he was. It shamed him to admit it, but BeastBoy was more intelligent than he'd ever given him credit for. He forced a small smile,

"You're not a screaming fan-girl are you?" he joked with a nervous laugh. BeastBoy laughed his regular, loud and joyful, laugh and shook his head,

"Nah, I'm alright. But Starfire's a total nut for you!" he joked as he moved over to prepare himself some vegetarian friendly cereal. Richard moved out of the small kitchen area as Cyborg set up to make waffles and BeastBoy went about making his cereal. Mentally he was banging his head against a wall; Starfire was crushing on Richard Grayson now instead of Robin. Just freaking perfect.

With a small sigh, he moved over to one of the corners of the giant sofa, a spot which Raven had always insisted was her place for reading books. As he got comfortable in his place, his coffee soothing his nerves, the doors to the main room slid open again. Just as he was about to turned around to check if it was Raven, a boisterous voice cut through the air,

"Good morning friends! What food of the fast break will we be consuming today?" Starfire asked in her normal bubbly voice. Richard tried to sit into himself so that she couldn't see him sitting with his back to her. Mentally he began to slam his head against a wall harder than before. Starfire was exactly the person he'd wanted to avoid.

"I'm making waffles Star." Replied Cyborg, the movement of pots confirming that he was making something in the kitchen. BeastBoy piped up,

"Hey Star, you know that guy you like?" he asked, amused. Richard grimaced. He was going to kill BeastBoy for this. His fears were confirmed, "That Richard Grayson guy's sitting on the sofa right now."

Richard counted in his head idly before a high pitched squeal made the glass in the giant windows quake. He frowned a little, only three seconds. She must really like him. That last thought caused him to let out a nearly inaudible groan just as Starfire flew around the edge of the sofa to float in front of him. He forced a smile as she leaned in closer to him, beaming from ear to ear and clutching a pen and paper to her chest tightly,

"Oh my glork! It is you! The son of Gray Richard!" she announced with another squeal, which hurt his ears. He chuckled a little,

"I think you mean Richard Grayson." He corrected her, already dreading the time he'd have to spend with the bubbly alien girl. Starfire nodded franticly, obviously just trying to please him and not actually planning on using his real name,

"I am your biggest fan!" she declared with yet another squeal of joy. Richard actually checked his ears to see if they were bleeding before smiling a little,

"Don't I have to do something to get fans?" he noted dryly, aware that Richard Grayson had done almost nothing to gain fans. Starfire shook her head,

"You were in a magazine I read while going to the mall of shopping with some of the popular girls from the local High School. You were voted the hottest teenager alive!" she seemed very excited about the voting part. She slowly lent down to whisper in his ear, "I know I voted for you."

Richard's eyes widened a little as Starfire practically raped his personal space and whispered in his ear. He quickly slid out off of the sofa, desperate to get away from Starfire. He scratched the back of his head nervously as Starfire floated over to him again and he was forced to start back tracking. Starfire suddenly lunged at him and Richard almost blocked and counter-attacked before he realised that he was pretending to simply be Richard Grayson, insanely rich teenage boy. As such, Starfire's crushing alien grip caught the front of his shirt and he gulped a little as she pulled him closer to her, cooing in his ear,

"My new popular friends have told me about… taking a boy to my room." She whispered huskily into his ear. Richard's eyes bugged out and he had to force himself not to wretch at the idea she was suggesting. Starfire took his stunned silence to be consent and began to drag him towards the door, "You shall be the boy I take to my room."

Richard was so desperate that when the doors opened again, he would have been relieved if it was The Joker himself. Thankfully, it was not The Joker. Unfortunately, it was Raven. The quiet, grey, girl walked in and took one look at the scene before her and Richard's precious coffee machine exploded in dark energies. Richard used the explosion as a distraction and slipped out of Starfire's grip before he gladly made his way over to Raven. He smiled wide as he wrapped the confused girl in a tight hug. He kept the hug going,

"Thank god you're here. I think Starfire was going to try and rape me…" he whispered into her ear desperately before letting go of Raven. Raven, to her credit, seemingly didn't respond to the whisper. The other Titans looked at the two of them in utter shock; most people who hugged Raven tended to be thrown across rooms by her powers at this point. Starfire recovered first, plastering a false smile on as she floated over to Richard and grabbed hold of his arm, none too gently, and pulled him a step away from Raven,

"Friend Raven… New Friend Richard and I were just about to go to my bed." She told the gothic girl with a mix of anger and jealousy. Richard pleaded to Raven with his eyes as Starfire began to frog march him to her room again. Just as they reached the door to the main room, the door glowed black and snapped shut just an inch in front of Starfire's nose. The red-headed alien girl glared at the gothic girl as Raven simply stared back,

"I think you'll find that Richard… came here with me." She informed her friend with a bland tone of voice. Starfire smiled her false smile again,

"Well he'll be going to bed with me." She replied icily. Raven refused to unblock the door,

"Actually Starfire, he came to bed with me last night." She told the alien girl with a small smile. Starfire's eyes widened in surprise and Richard was able to break out of her grip again and move over to stand with Raven again. He noticed how Cyborg's jaw had literally detached from his face and fallen to the floor and how BeastBoy regarded him with a mixture of jealous and confusion. Raven took his hand in hers and turned slightly so that she could kiss him on the cheek. Starfire glared a Raven,

"I don't believe you." She declared venomously, surprising the boys in the room. Raven rolled her eyes a little and grabbed Richard by the sides of his face before moving in close. Richard's heart raced as Raven pressed her body flush against his, causing him to wrap his arms around her to keep them from getting between their bodies, and tilted her head up slightly. His breath caught as she pressed further into him as she began to kiss him. His mind spun round in delight as he eagerly returned the kiss. Something exploded in the background but he suddenly forgot about it when Raven's tongue started to play along his lips for entry. He didn't need to be told twice. Opening his mouth, Richard was shocked by the passion with which Raven kissed him and forced himself to try and better her passion with his own. Idly, he was aware that Raven's fingers were now entwined in his hair and that his own hands had slipped much lower that her upper back…

Something big exploded and Raven pulled back from him smoothly to regard the damage. Richard's mind was still reeling and his legs felt unsteady when Raven drew her fingers from his hair and disengaged from him, being sure to give his hands playful slaps for slipping down to her perfect rear. Slowly, Richard regained his senses and noticed that his mobile phone was ringing. He blinked a few times at that thought. Every pair of trousers in his wardrobe had a phone in the pocket just in case but the ringtone was what caught his attention. It was a simple bell, repeating once every two seconds. His eyes widened a little but he recovered quickly, smiling at Raven and the shocked Titans,

"That's my dad calling." He gave Raven a pointed look which she returned, "I guess I'll see you some other time. Can I get a lift Raven?"

Richard noticed Starfire's extremely sour expression, BeastBoy's jealousy and Cyborg's disapproving frown as Raven wrapped her body intricately around his own and they disappeared through his shadow. Oh, this was definitely one of his top five days.

**God, I hate Starfire. Always have done to be honest, way too bubbly and needy for someone like Robin. **

**Was the Rob/Rae bit good? I thought it would be nice to throw you Rob/Rae shippers a bone here ;)**

**Next chapter will introduce two mini-Outsiders! I'm talking about Cassandra Cain and Tim Drake as 12 year olds! Unfortunately they're entry into the world of the Outsiders will be far fro pleasant.**

**Next Chapter: Hurt**


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